Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori: Riding A Tractor To Campaign Location, Successfully Overcoming Hyperinflation

Alberto Fujimori. (Wikimedia Commons/Staf Sergeant Karen L. Sanders/United States Air Force)

JAKARTA - Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori passed away on Wednesday in 86 years, after reportedly planning to run in the 2026 presidential election.

A number of close colleagues visited him on the previous day, reporting that he was in critical condition.

"After a long fight against cancer, our father has just gone to meet God," wrote his daughter total Fujimori in a message on X, which was also signed by the children of the former leader.

The late Fujimori, the son of Japanese immigrants, was born in Lima on Peruvian Independence Day, July 28, 1938. An agricultural mathematician and engineer, Fujimori was not an important person in the world of politics when he decided to run for president, driving a tractor into his campaign arena.

He shocked the world by defeating famous writer Mario Vargas Llosa in the 1990 elections, with strong support from the left.

Bringing Peru into economic growth during the 1990s, Fujimori was jailed for human rights abuses during the bloody war against the Maois rebels.

He eradicated hyperinflation that has caused millions of Peruvians to lose their jobs, privatized dozens of state-owned companies, and cut trade rates, which became the basis for Peru to become, for the time being, one of the most stable economies in Latin America.

Under his watch, the feared leader of Maoist Shining Path, Abimael Guzman, was arrested, hitting a landslide blow to the movement that in the 1980s appeared to almost overthrow Peru's country. Guzman died in prison in September 2021.

However, many Peruvians regard Fujimori as an autocrat after he used military tanks to close Congress in 1992, rearranging the constitution according to his desire to promote free market reform and strict anti-terrorism laws.

A series of corruption scandals over the past 10 years of his administration have also changed public opinion on him.

Shortly after he won the third election in 2000 - by changing the constitution to run - a video emerged of his main adviser and chief spy Vladimiro Montesinos distributing cash to bribe politicians. Fujimori fled into exile in Japan.

He stepped down via death from Tokyo and then failed to campaign for the seat of a Japanese senator.

Después de una larga batalla contra el cáncer, nuestro padre, Alberto Fujimori acaba de partir al encuentro del Señor. Pedimos a quienes lo apreciaron nos acompañen con una oración por el eterno descanso de su alma.Gracias por tanto papá! Keiko, Hiro, Sachie y Kenji Fujimori.

— Keiko Fujimori (@KeikoFujimori) September 11, 2024

Después de una larga canceling the contra el c bigcer, nuestro padre, Alberto Fujimori acaba de partir al encuentro del Del. Pedimos a quines lo apreciaron nos akumpa careen con una oracimen por el etherno descanso de su alma.Gracias por tanto papament!men, Hiro, Sachie y Kenji Fujimori.

Montesinos was later arrested in Venezuela and jailed, found guilty based on hundreds of videos he recorded himself when distributing bribes to politicians and business and media executives.

The cases against Fujimori piled up, including allegations of ordering the use of a assassination squad in its battle against Shining Path militants.

Although safe in Japan, Fujimori made a surprise by deciding to return to Peru in 2005, in hopes of pardoning and returning to politics.

Instead, he was detained during a layover in Chile, extradited to Peru in 2007, and in 2009 he was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

After being imprisoned, Fujimori's public appearance was limited to visits to hospitals where he often looked random and unwell.

While his critics ignored his health complaint as a tactic to get out of prison, then president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski had time to pardon Fujimori in 2017.

A few months later Kuczynski was impeached and his pardon was canceled by Peru's highest constitutional court, sending Fujimori back to a special prison that detained him and no other inmates.

The court reinstated the pardon in December 2023, releasing sick Fujimori, who suffered from stomach hatchlings, hypertension, and tongue cancer. In May 2024, Fujimori announced that he had been diagnosed with malignant tumors.