Peru power family with a dark past
LIMA: Father is in jail for crimes against humanity. Uncles and aunts have fled corruption charges. And daughter? She is in position to follow in dad’s footsteps by becoming president of Peru.
The Fujimoris may look like one of Peru’s most dysfunctional families, but they are also one of its most powerful. And although ex-president Alberto Fujimori, 77, is in jail, his children are looking to forge a dynasty.
His daughter Keiko, 40, is close to being elected Peru’s first woman president in elections this Sunday.
That is in spite – or because – of the violence and drama of Alberto Fujimori’s time as leader and in his own family.
Fujimori seized vast powers by dissolving parliament and massacring leftist opponents.
Keiko’s mother Susana Higuchi accused his men of torturing her during his rule from 1990 to 2000. She fled the presidential palace and filed for divorce in 1994.
Keiko took over from her mother as first lady of the nation at the age of 19.
“She has remained among the most popular figures in Peruvian politics since then,” said Maria Luisa Puig, a Latin America analyst at the Eurasia Group consultancy.
The Fujimoris are one of thousands of families of Japanese descent in Peru following waves of economic immigration.
The family maintains strong ties to Japan.
Alberto Fujimori fled there as allegations against him mounted in 2001. He resigned as president by sending a fax.
He was arrested years later in Chile and extradited to Peru to face trial. In 2009 he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for death squad killings targeting supposed members of the Shining Path guerrilla group in the 1990s.
He has also been convicted of embezzlement and bribery.
Aside from his own challenges, Alberto Fujimori’s marriage to Higuchi was a dramatic affair.
She said she was tortured by the secret service run by Fujimori’s right- hand man, Vladimir Montesinos.
Shortly after their divorce, Higuchi attempted to run against Fujimori in an election in 1995.
But he blocked her by passing a law that prohibited presidents’ close family members from seeking office.
Keiko Fujimori has rejected her mother’s claims as “myths”.
Higuchi has appeared at some of Keiko Fujimori’s recent campaign events, but they are not reputed to have warm relations.
Polls indicate Keiko’s likely share of Sunday’s vote – roughly one-third – would carry her through to a runoff.