Ex-Peru president Fujimori says he has tongue cancer

LIMA: Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, released from prison in December after serving 16 years for crimes against humanity, said on Friday he had been diagnosed with a malignant tongue tumour.

President from 1990 to 2000, Fujimori has been in poor health and was freed for humanitarian reasons after only serving part of his 25-year sentence.

Fujimori, now 85, was sent to prison in 2009 over massacres committed by army death squads in 1991 and 1992 in which 25 people, including a child, were killed in supposed anti-terrorist operations.

“Now that I’ve regained my freedom, I face a new battle,” Fujimori said in a video posted on social media platform X.

Fujimori has undergone surgery several times for a cancerous lesion on his tongue and also suffered from a lung tumor reported in 2018, as well as heart problems.

“The results confirm a new tumor diagnosed as malignant. So I’m going to start treatment alongside my family,” Fujimori said.

Fujimori, who is of Japanese heritage, divided Peruvians like few other leaders of the Andean country of 32 million people.

To some, he is remembered for bolstering economic growth through his neo-liberal economic policies, while crushing leftwing insurgencies, including the Shining Path rebels.

Others recall his ruthless, authoritarian governing style.

He asked for “forgiveness” in 2017 for the actions of his administration.