Alberto Kenya Fujimori Inomoto (26 July 1938 – 11 September 2024) was a Peruvian politician, professor, agriculture engineer, and dictator who served as the president of Peru from 1990 to 2000.*
During Fujimori's tenure, the Peruvian Armed Forces repressed the far-left guerrilla group Shining Path, halting the group's actions while also killing thousands of civilians. Fujimori became known for his neoliberal political and economic ideology of Fujimorism, which pushed a free market economy and social conservatism. He also collaborated with the head of the National Intelligence Service (SIN), Vladimiro Montesinos, to consolidate power and eliminate political opponents. Fujimori's presidency was marked by authoritarian measures, excessive use of propaganda, entrenched political corruption, multiple cases of extrajudicial killings, and human rights violations.
Born in Lima, Fujimori was the country's first president of Japanese descent, and was an agronomist and university rector prior to entering politics. Fujimori emerged as a politician during the midst of the internal conflict in Peru, the Peruvian Lost Decade, and the ensuing violence caused by the Shining Path."Guzmán, Abimael (Comrade Gonzalo)". Terrorism Reference Library. Encyclopedia.com. (12 January 2021). https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/guzMan-abimael-comradegonzalo In 1992, during his first presidential term, Fujimori, with the support of SIN and the Peruvian Armed Forces, adopted the military's Plan Verde, targeting members of Peru's indigenous community and subjecting them to forced sterilizations. As part of the plan, he also carried out a self-coup against the Peruvian legislature and judiciary. Fujimori dissolved the Peruvian Congress and Supreme Court, effectively making him a dictator of Peru.Charles D. Kenney, 2004 Fujimori's Coup and the Breakdown of Democracy in Latin America (Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies) University of Notre Dame Press The coup was criticized by Peruvian politicians, international governments, intellectuals and journalists, but was well received by the country's private business sector and a substantial part of the public. Following the coup d'état, Fujimori drafted a new constitution in 1993, which was approved in a referendum, and was elected as president for a second term in 1995 and controversially for a third term in 2000.
In 2000, following his third term election, Fujimori faced mounting allegations of widespread corruption and crimes against humanity within his government. Subsequently, Fujimori fled to Japan, where he submitted his presidential resignation via fax. Peru's congress refused to accept his resignation, instead voting to remove him from office on the grounds that he was "permanently morally disabled". While he was in Japan, Peru issued multiple criminal charges against him, stemming from the corruption and human rights abuses that occurred during his government. Peru requested Fujimori's extradition from Japan, which was refused by the Japanese government as they recognised him as a Japanese citizen, and Japanese laws stipulating against extraditing its citizens. In 2005, while Fujimori was visiting Santiago, Chile, he was arrested by the Carabineros de Chile at the request of Peru, and extradited to Lima to face charges in 2007. Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but was pardoned by president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in 2017, and was officially released in December 2023 following several years of legal proceedings regarding the legality of his pardon. He died in September 2024, nine months after his release. In 2026, his daughter Keiko became the country's first female elected president.
Early life, education, and career Alberto Kenya Fujimori Inomoto was born on 26 July 1938 in the Miraflores district of Lima, Peru, to Japanese parents Naoichi Fujimori (né Minami) and Mutsue Inomoto. His parents were originally from Kumamoto Prefecture and immigrated to Peru in 1934. Although Fujimori's father was Buddhist and his mother was a follower of Tenrikyo,Kimura (1998), p. 37 he was baptized and raised Catholic.
Fujimori received his early education from 1946 to 1948 at "Hoshi Shokai Gakuen", a Japanese private school where subjects were taught both in Spanish and Japanese.Kimura (1998), p. 21 Japanese was the language of his childhood homeKimura (1998), p. 23 and he often code switched with Japanese whenever he spoke Spanish as a child.Kimura (1998), p. 11 As Fujimori's parents felt the need for their children to become proficient in Spanish in order to fully assimilate into Peruvian society, his parents transferred him to La Rectora in 1949, a mainstream Peruvian primary school where subjects were taught solely in Spanish.Kimura (1998), p. 22 He subsequently attended high school at Colegio Nuestra Señora de la Merced. In 1956, he graduated from La Gran Unidad Escolar Alfonso Ugarte in Lima.Jochamowitz, p. 333.
Fujimori pursued his undergraduate studies at the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina in 1957, graduating first in his class in 1961 with a degree in agricultural engineering. He briefly lectured in mathematics at the university before moving to France to study physics at the University of Strasbourg. In 1969, he earned a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee through a Ford Foundation scholarship. In recognition of his academic achievements, the sciences faculty of the National Agrarian University offered Fujimori the deanship and in 1984 appointed him to the rectorship of the university, which he held until 1989. In 1987, Fujimori also became president of the , a position that he held twice. He also hosted a TV show called Concertando from 1988 to 1989 on Peru's state-owned network, Canal 7.
Birthplace dispute In July 1997, the news magazine Caretas alleged that Fujimori was born in Japan, in his father's hometown of Kawachi, Kumamoto Prefecture. Because the Constitution of Peru requires the president to have been born in Peru, this would have made Fujimori ineligible to be president. The magazine, which had been sued for libel by Vladimiro Montesinos seven years earlier, reported that Fujimori's birth and baptismal certificates might have been altered. Caretas also alleged that Fujimori's mother declared having two children when she entered Peru; Fujimori was the second of four children. Caretas's contentions were hotly contested in the Peruvian media; the magazine Sí described the allegations as "pathetic" and "a dark page for [Peruvian] journalism". Scholars Cynthia McClintock and Fabián Vallas note that the issue appeared to have died down among Peruvians after the Japanese government announced in 2000 that "Fujimori's parents had registered his birth in the Japanese Embassy in Lima". The Japanese government determined that he was also a Japanese citizen because of his parents' registration in the koseki.
Presidency (1990–2000)
First term
1990 general election
During the first presidency of Alan García, the economy had entered a period of hyperinflation and the political system was in crisis due to the country's internal conflict, leaving Peru in "economic and political chaos".Benson, Sara and Hellander, Paul and Wlodarski, Rafael. Lonely Planet: Peru. 2007, pp. 37–38. The armed forces grew frustrated with the inability of the García administration to handle the nation's crises and began to draft Plan Verde as a plan to overthrow his government. According to Rospigliosi, lawyer and friend of Fujimori, Vladimiro Montesinos was not initially involved with the Plan Verde, but his ability to resolve issues for the military resulted with the armed forces tasking Montesinos with implementing the plan with Fujimori, Both General and Montesinos were responsible for the relationship between the armed forces and Fujimori. Mario Vargas Llosa, Fujimori's final opponent in the election, later reported that United States Ambassador to Peru, Anthony C. E. Quainton, personally told him that allegedly leaked documents of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) purportedly being supportive of Fujimori's candidacy were authentic. Rendón writes that the United States supported Fujimori because of his relationship with Montesinos, who had previously been charged with spying on the Peruvian military for the CIA.
During the second round of elections, Fujimori originally received support from left-wing groups and those close to the García government, exploiting the popular distrust of the existing Peruvian political establishment and the uncertainty about the proposed neoliberal economic reforms of his opponent, novelist Mario Vargas Llosa. Fujimori won the 1990 presidential election as a dark horse candidate under the banner of Cambio 90, defeating Vargas Llosa in a surprise result. He capitalized on profound disenchantment with outgoing president Alan García and the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance party (APRA).
During the campaign, Fujimori was nicknamed "el chino," which translates to "the Chinese guy" or "the Chinaman"; it is common for people of any East Asian descent to be called chino in Peru, as elsewhere in Spanish-speaking Latin America, both derogatorily and affectionately. Although he was of Japanese heritage, Fujimori suggested that he was always pleased by the nickname, which he perceived as a term of affection.Interview with Fujimori, in Ellen Perry's The Fall of Fujimori With his election victory, he became the third person of East Asian descent to serve as presidency of a South American state, after President Arthur Chung of Guyana and Henk Chin A Sen of Suriname.
Economic shock According to news magazine Oiga, the armed forces finalized plans on 18 June 1990 involving multiple scenarios for a coup d'état to be executed on 27 July 1990, the day prior to Fujimori's inauguration. The magazine noted that in one of the scenarios, titled "Negotiation and agreement with Fujimori. Bases of negotiation: concept of directed Democracy and Market Economy", Fujimori was to be directed on accepting the military's plan at least 24 hours before his inauguration. Fernando Rospigliosi states "an understanding was established between Fujimori, Montesinos and some of the military officers" involved in the Plan Verde prior to Fujimori's inauguration. Montesinos and SIN officials ultimately assumed the armed forces' position in the plan, placing SIN operatives into military leadership roles. Fujimori went on to adopt many of the policies outlined in the Plan Verde. Fujimori was sworn in as president on 28 July 1990, allegedly his 52nd birthday.
During his first term in office, Fujimori enacted wide-ranging neoliberal reforms, known as the Fujishock. Hernando de Soto, the founder of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, became an advisor. Between 1988 and 1995, de Soto and the ILD were mainly responsible for some four hundred initiatives, laws, and regulations that led to significant changes in Peru's economic system. Under Fujimori, de Soto served as "the President's personal representative", with The New York Times describing de Soto as an "overseas salesman" for Fujimori in 1990, writing that he had represented the government when meeting with creditors and United States representatives. Others dubbed de Soto as the "informal president" for Fujimori. De Soto proved to be influential to Fujimori, who began to repeat de Soto's advocacy for deregulating the Peruvian economy. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was content with Peru's measures, and guaranteed loan funding for Peru.Gouge, Thomas. Exodus from Capitalism: The End of Inflation and Debt. 2003, p. 364. Inflation rapidly began to fall and foreign investment capital flooded in.