Alberto Fujimori

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. 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. 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.