Peruvian president pardons ailing ex-leader Fujimori
Foes take to streets in protest 2 ruling party lawmakers quit in outrage
LIMA: Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski pardoned former authoritarian leader Alberto Fujimori late on Sunday, triggering Christmas Eve street clashes as protesters denounced the decision as part of a crude political deal. At least two ministers in Kuczynski’s cabinet who objected to the pardon told him they wanted to resign, and Kuczynski might reshuffle the cabinet as early as this week, a government source said. Two ruling party lawmakers quit his party as his political group planned next steps.
Kuczynski, a 79-yearold former Wall Street banker who vowed as a candidate not to pardon Fujimori, based his decision on a medical review that found Fujimori suffered from “a progressive, degenerative and incurable disease,” according to a statement from the president’s office. Late on Sunday, Fujimori was taken to hospital from prison by ambulance to treat a drop in blood pressure and abnormal heart beat.
But many in Peru saw the pardon as part of a quid pro quo after Fujimori’s loyalists unexpectedly saved Kuczynski from a scandal that nearly removed him from office three days earlier. “To save his own skin he cut a deal with Fujimori’s supporters to infamously pardon a corrupt killer,” said Veronika Mendoza, a leftist leader who competed against Kuczynski in last year’s presidential election. Kuczynski’s center-right government has repeatedly denied allegations that a pardon for Fujimori was part of any political negotiation.
Fujimori is a deeply divisive figure in Peru. While many consider him a corrupt dictator, others credit him with ending an economic crisis and bloody leftist insurgency during his 1990-2000 right-wing government. “He’s the best president Peru ever had,” said Maria Luisa Cuculiza, a friend and former minister of Fujimori, adding that he no longer had any political ambitions. “He doesn’t want to return to politics. He just wants to be a good grandfather,” Cuculiza told Reuters by telephone.
Kuczynski’s decision clears Fujimori of convictions for human rights crimes and graft before completion of a 25year prison sentence, and could define the president’s legacy. Police fired teargas at scores of Fujimori’s opponents in downtown Lima, who waved pictures of the victims of a bloody counterinsurgency campaign during his term. Officers in riot gear stood guard at Kuczynski’s house in the capital’s San Isidro financial district as protesters called for the march to make its way there.
Fujimori’s family and supporters cheered the pardon as a long-overdue vindication for a misunderstood hero. Holding a vigil at the hospital where Fujimori remained late on Sunday, his followers waved banners reading “Freedom for Fujimori!” But the pardon was a blow to the relatives of victims, prosecutors and human rights activists who helped put Fujimori behind bars in a lengthy judicial process that earned Peru global plaudits for fighting impunity. Kuczynski, “you’ve betrayed justice, democracy and victims. History will never forgive you,” said Indira Huilca, a leftist lawmaker whose union leader father was shot dead in 1992 in what the Inter-American Court of Human Rights deemed an extrajudicial killing.
‘Eternally Grateful’ Kuczynski ran for office to cap a career in finance and public administration. He has led demands in the region for democratic reforms from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom he has called a “dictator”, and the pardon may tarnish Kuczynski’s image and expose him to accusations of hypocrisy. It could also prompt one of the biggest political realignments in Peru since Fujimori fled to his parents’ homeland of Japan in 2000 as a corruption scandal brought his decade in power to an end.
Fujimori was extradited back to Peru in 2007 and later found guilty of commanding death squads that massacred civilians, bribing lawmakers and having a hand in the kidnapping a journalist, among other crimes. Despite his downfall, the right-wing populist movement that Fujimori built has remained one of the most potent political forces in Peru. His eldest daughter, Keiko, leads the opposition party Popular Force that controls Congress, while his youngest son, Kenji, has courted ties with Kuczynski’s government as he challenges his sister’s past decade of leadership of their father’s following.
On Thursday, Kenji led a surprise defection in Popular Force that narrowly saved Kuczynski from a bid in Congress led by Kieko’s followers that would have removed him from office in the wake of a graft scandal. “We’re eternally grateful to you,” Kenji told Kuczynski on Twitter, noting that he was speaking for Fujimori’s family. In a video Kenji shared on social media, a gray-haired Fujimori, connected to tubes in hospital, was seen smiling after reading Kuczynski’s announcement on a cellphone with Kenji. Kenji said Fujimori was recovering in intensive care and would not likely go home for a few days. Before the announcement, Kuczynski summoned his cabinet and ruling party lawmakers to the presidential palace to tell them of his decision. Congressman Alberto de Belaunde announced his resignation from Kuczynski’s party afterward on Twitter. Congressman Vicente Zeballos, another ruling party lawmaker, was also resigning, the El Comercio newspaper reported. As the pardon inflamed long-dormant political tension in Peru, a representative of the political arm of the Maoist-inspired rebel group Shining Path called for Kuczynski to release its historic leader. “Freedom for Dr Abimael Guzman Reinoso!” Guzman’s attorney, Alfredo Crespo, wrote in a message to journalists. “Enough of hate and persecution!” —Reuters