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Alberto Fujimori, whose decade-long presidency began with triumphs in fixing Peru’s economy and defeating a brutal rebellion, and ended with a scandal of authoritarian excesses that later sent him to prison, has died at 86.
His daughter, Keiko Fujimori, announced his death yesterday in the capital, Lima, via a post on the X platform.
Fujimori was pardoned in December for his conviction for corruption and responsibility for the killing of 25 people.
In July, his daughter said he was planning to run for president of Peru for a fourth time in 2026.
The former university president and mathematics professor emerged from obscurity to win Peru’s 1990 election over writer Mario Vargas Llosa.
He took over a country torn by hyperinflation and gang violence, reforming the economy with bold measures, including the mass privatization of state-owned industries. He also defeated the extremist Shining Path rebels, winning widespread support.
Fujimori, who was in power in Peru from 1990 to 2000, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2009 for plotting to kill 25 Peruvians as the government fought communist Shining Path rebels. The charges against him led to years of legal wrangling.
But life inside the prison, built on the outskirts of the Peruvian capital, Lima, did not prevent Fujimori from seeking to restore his political standing.
In July, his daughter Kiko announced that he planned to run for president in 2026. He has never explained how he would overcome a Peruvian law that bars anyone convicted of corruption from running for president or vice president.
