Legacy
History may not be very kind to Fujimori. His accomplishments are unquestionable: a lesser president would not have managed to untangle the economy and crush the insurgents, both in his first term of office. Some of his methods were forgivable: very few Peruvians look back on his 1992 dissolution of Congress as a crime.
The web of corruption overseen by Montesinos, however, is too mind-boggling in its scale to simply overlook, whatever good Fujimori may have done as president. According to a 2004 Transparency International Report, the Fujimori administration was the seventh-most crooked of the last forty years, siphoning off no less than $600 million during his ten years in office, an astounding haul. Fujimori has repeatedly declared that he did not know what Montesinos was up to, but his claims seem a little disingenuous: Fujimori did not climb to the top spot in Peruvian academia by being stupid. The Peruvian courts certainly don’t believe him, and Montesinos says that he always followed Fujimori’s orders.
As troubling as the stealing are the myriad allegations against Fujimori for human rights crimes. One incident is the Barrios Altos Massacre: on November 3, 1991, masked Peruvian security troops raided a residence in the Barrios Altos neighborhood of Lima looking for Shining Path guerrillas. Fifteen people were shot to death, including an eight year-old boy. Apparently, none of the victims had any ties to the Shining Path, which were actually meeting elsewhere. Fujimori stands charged with being complicit in this case, although evidence that he had anything to do with it is sketchy at best. So far he has only been convicted of one offense: ordering the illegal search of Montesinos’ home in 2000, for which he is serving a six-year sentence.
It would be premature to count Fujimori out, in spite of the many charges he is facing. He holds Japanese citizenship and has stated his intention to run for office in Japan: as an elected official of a different country, he may have immunity from prosecution in Peru. Although he did not run for president in 2006, many of his supporters ran for offices, and some of them won key posts in congress. In addition, as time goes by, most Peruvians are fondly recalling his accomplishments and dwelling less on his failures.
On April 7, 2009, Fujimori was found guilty of violating human rights indirectly: the death squads he approved killed civilians, and he was held accountable. He was given 25 years in prison, which at his age should amount to a life sentence. There is hope for him, however: he is still popular with the people of Peru and his daughter, Keiko Fujimori, narrowly missed being elected president in June of 2011. Stay tuned: this story is not yet over!
