the outsider who changed peru

part 2: the rise and fall of alberto fujimori

In the early 1990s, Peru was teetering on the edge of collapse. The Shining Path, a Maoist guerrilla group, had torn the country apart. Villages were burned, people were killed, and the government seemed powerless to stop it. On top of that, the economy was spiraling into chaos, with inflation out of control and government corruption running rampant. Peru needed a miracle, and that’s when Alberto Fujimori entered the scene.

Before becoming president, Alberto Fujimori was a professor of agricultural engineering at the National Agrarian University La Molina in Lima, Peru.

Fujimori was an unlikely savior. Born to Japanese immigrants, he was a scientist, not a politician. Yet, with a message of change, he ran for president in 1990 and, against all odds, won. His promises were bold: defeat the Shining Path, fix the economy, and rid the country of corruption.

He didn’t waste time making good on those promises. Shortly after taking office, Fujimori launched a military campaign against the Shining Path that was as brutal as it was effective. The insurgents, who had terrorized the country for over a decade, were quickly crushed by a heavily militarized government force. But the cost was high. Thousands of innocent civilians were killed in the crossfire, and the human rights abuses piled up. Fujimori’s crackdown on the Shining Path turned Peru into a battlefield, with the government accused of committing its own atrocities in the name of stability.

At the same time, Fujimori had to deal with the country’s collapsing economy. Inflation was through the roof, and the national debt was in freefall. His solution was radical: implement drastic economic reforms that would stabilize the economy at all costs. Fujimori’s neoliberal policies, privatizing state-run industries, slashing subsidies, and cutting social programs, were designed to curb inflation and bring economic order. And in the short term, they worked. The country’s economy stabilized, inflation was brought under control, and foreign investment flowed in. But the price was steep. These reforms made a few wealthy but pushed millions of Peruvians into poverty, and the gap between the rich and poor widened dramatically. The economic recovery was built on the backs of those who had already been suffering the most.

But it wasn’t just Fujimori’s economic and military decisions that shaped his presidency, it was also his increasing authoritarianism. In 1992, in what would become a defining moment of his rule, Fujimori carried out a self-coup, dissolving the Peruvian Congress and effectively taking total control of the government. He justified this move as necessary for national security, but it was clear that Fujimori was consolidating power. He ruled by decree, silencing opposition and stacking the deck in his favor. The country’s democratic institutions were gutted, and dissent was crushed.

And then there was Vladimiro Montesinos.

Vladimiro Montesinos, Fujimori’s shadowy intelligence chief, was the mastermind behind a web of corruption, surveillance, and human rights abuses during Peru’s 1990s political turmoil. Known as the power behind the throne, his influence ultimately brought down Fujimori’s regime.

Montesinos, Fujimori’s chief of intelligence, was the shadowy figure pulling the strings behind the scenes. A former military officer with a history of shady dealings, Montesinos became one of the most powerful and feared men in Peru. His role was central to the corruption that would plague Fujimori’s government. Montesinos used his position to create an extensive network of bribery, blackmail, and illegal arms deals. He was also allegedly involved in orchestrating extrajudicial killings and torture as part of the government’s crackdown on insurgents and political opponents. In short, he was the enforcer of Fujimori’s most brutal and corrupt policies.

For a time, Fujimori’s government enjoyed support. The violence subsided, the economy showed signs of recovery, and many Peruvians saw him as a savior. But over time, the cracks in the facade started to show. The corruption within his inner circle, especially with Montesinos, began to unravel. In 2000, a massive corruption scandal erupted, revealing that Montesinos had been bribing politicians, judges, and even journalists to protect his interests and the interests of the Fujimori government. It became clear that the government’s image of stability had been built on a foundation of lies and abuse.

As the scandal broke, Fujimori fled to Japan in 2000, leaving Peru in turmoil. He was later arrested in 2005 while traveling in Chile and extradited to Peru, where he faced charges related to corruption, human rights abuses, and the illegal wiretapping of political opponents. In 2007, he was convicted on multiple charges and sentenced to prison, though he continued to maintain that he was the victim of political persecution.

Fujimori’s legacy is a complicated one. While his military and economic policies helped stabilize Peru in the short term, they came at a high cost, human rights abuses, corruption, and the erosion of democratic institutions. He will always be remembered as a leader who promised change but ruled with an iron fist, a man whose actions left deep scars on the country he sought to save.

Alberto Fujimori died on September 11, 2024, at the age of 86. His passing marked the end of a controversial legacy that continues to polarize Peru. Fujimori’s death closes a chapter on one of Peru’s most turbulent political eras, but the debates over his impact are far from over.