A polarized Latin American leader was released from prison in December on humanitarian grounds.
Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, credited with stabilizing the Latin American nation’s economy before being jailed for human rights abuses, has died at the age of 86, his family announced.
Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former President Fujimori, has announced that the former president has died after a long battle with cancer.
“We ask those who loved him to pray for the eternal rest of his soul,” Keiko Fujimori said in a post to X on Wednesday. “Thank you so much, Dad!”
Fujimori, a former agricultural engineer and university professor, won Peru’s 1990 elections, coming in second to political favorite Mario Vargas Llosa and then defeating his rival in a subsequent runoff.
Fujimori won praise during his 10-year presidency for overcoming hyperinflation, stimulating economic growth and cracking down on Maoist rebels, the Shining Path.
But the son of Japanese immigrants has also been accused of consolidating power through undemocratic means and undermining Peru’s institutions and the rule of law.
Fujimori temporarily closed down parliament and the courts, then fled Peru in 2000 after footage emerged showing the intelligence chief bribing lawmakers.
Fujimori, who held Japanese nationality, is famous for submitting his resignation by fax while living in exile.
In 2005, Fujimori went to Chile to attempt a return to politics, but was extradited to Peru to stand trial for atrocities committed by the military early in his term.
In 2009, Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder of 25 people, including children, by a government-sponsored assassination squad.
Peru’s highest court ordered his release on humanitarian grounds in December.
In July, Keiko Fujimori announced that her father planned to run for a fourth term as president in 2026.
