Alberto Fujimori, Peru’s divisive former president, dies at age 86

Clockwise, from top left: Peru's former president Alberto Fujimori after winning re-election in April 1995; reviewing the guard of honor in Lima on July 28, 1995; at a hospital in Lima with his children on April 30, 2024; appearing in court in Lima for trial on graft and corruption on November 7, 2013; and addressing a campaign rally on May 17 2000 in Cajamarca. (AFP photos)
Short Url
Updated 12 September 2024
Follow

Alberto Fujimori, Peru’s divisive former president, dies at age 86

  • First elected president in 1990, the son of Japanese immigrants stabilized Peru's economy and dealt a death blow to a Maoist rebellion
  • But he later turned into an autocrat and a slew of corruption scandals during his rule later turned public opinion against him

LIMA: Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, who steered economic growth during the 1990s but was later jailed for human rights abuses stemming from a bloody war against Maoist rebels, died on Wednesday. He was aged 86.
Close colleagues visited him earlier in the day, reporting that he was in a critical condition.
“After a long battle with cancer, our father... has just departed to meet the Lord,” his daughter Keiko Fujimori wrote in a message on X, also signed by the former leader’s other children.
Fujimori, the son of Japanese immigrants, was the little-known chancellor of a farming university when elected to office in 1990. He quickly established himself as a cunning politician whose hands-on style produced results even as he angered critics for concentrating power.
He slayed hyperinflation that had thrown millions of Peruvians out of work, privatized dozens of state-run companies, and slashed trade tariffs, setting the foundations for Peru to become, for a while, one of Latin America’s most stable economies.
Under his watch, the feared leader of the Maoist Shining Path, Abimael Guzman, was captured — dealing a crucial blow to a movement that in the 1980s seemed close to toppling the Peruvian state. Guzman died in prison in September 2021.
But many Peruvians saw Fujimori as an autocrat after he used military tanks to shut down Congress in 1992, redrafting the constitution to his liking to push free-market reforms and tough anti-terrorism laws.
A slew of corruption scandals during his 10-year administration also turned public opinion against him.
Shortly after he won a third election in 2000 — amending the constitution to run — videos emerged of his top adviser and spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos doling out cash to bribe politicians. Fujimori fled to exile in Japan.
He resigned via fax from Tokyo and then unsuccessfully campaigned for a Japanese senatorial seat.
Montesinos was later captured in Venezuela and jailed, convicted by the hundreds of videos he recorded of himself handing out cash bribes to politicians and business and media executives.
The cases against Fujimori piled up — including accusations that he had ordered the use of death squads in his battle against Shining Path militants.
Fujimori was safe in Japan — he was a dual citizen and Japan does not extradite its citizens. So many were shocked when in 2005 he decided to head back to Peru, apparently in hopes of forgiveness and a return to politics.
Instead, he was detained during a layover in Chile, extradited to Peru in 2007, and in 2009 he was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

’FUJI-SHOCK’
Once jailed, Fujimori’s public appearances were limited to hospital visits where he often appeared disheveled and unwell.
While detractors dismissed his health complaints as a ploy to get out of prison, then-president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski briefly pardoned Fujimori in 2017.
Months later Kuczynski was impeached and the pardon overturned by Peru’s top constitutional court, sending Fujimori back to the special prison that held him and no other inmates.
The court restored the pardon in December 2023, releasing the ailing Fujimori, who had suffered from stomach ulcers, hypertension and tongue cancer. In May 2024, Fujimori announced he had been diagnosed with a malignant tumor.
Fujimori’s legacy has been most passionately defended by his daughter Keiko, who has been close to clinching the presidency herself three times on a platform that has included pardoning her father and defending his constitution.
The late Fujimori was born in Lima on Peruvian Independence Day, July 28, 1938.
A mathematician and agricultural engineer, Fujimori was a political nobody when he decided to run for the presidency, driving a tractor to his campaign rallies. He surprised the world by defeating renowned writer Mario Vargas Llosa in the 1990 election, with heavy support from the left.
He touted himself as an alternative to the country’s white elite and gained crucial support from Peru’s large Indigenous and mixed race populations.
As Peru battled what was among the world’s worst hyperinflation, Fujimori promised not to carry out drastic measures to tame it.
But on his second week in office he suddenly lifted the subsidies that kept food essentials affordable, in what became known as the ‘Fuji-shock.’
“May God help us,” Fujimori’s finance minister said on TV after announcing the measure. Inflation worsened in the short-term but the bet paid off, eventually stabilizing the economy after over a decade of crisis.
Even as support for him started to wane, Fujimori pulled off audacious stunts in his second term.
In 1997, he devised a plan to dig tunnels under the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima to end a four-month hostage crisis after another insurgency, the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, took 500 people captive for 126 days.
In a surprise attack, Fujimori sent in more than 100 commandos in a raid that killed all 14 insurgents.
Only two commandos and one of the remaining 72 hostages died. Television footage showed Fujimori calmly stepping over the corpses of the insurgents after the raid.
Fujimori was married twice. A public falling-out with his first wife Susana Higuchi while he was president led him to name daughter Keiko as the first lady. The couple had three other children, including Kenjo Fujimori, also a politician.


Russian strike kills 13 in Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia

Updated 51 min 9 sec ago
Follow

Russian strike kills 13 in Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia

  • The blast left bodies strewn across a road alongside injured residents
  • Public transport was also damaged in the strike

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine: A Russian guided bomb attack on Wednesday killed at least 13 people and injured 63 in Ukraine’s southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, authorities said.
The blast left bodies strewn across a road alongside injured residents. Public transport was also damaged in the strike.
Prosecutors in the region said 63 people had been injured. Rescue work had been completed at the site of the attack.
High-rise apartment blocks were damaged along with an industrial facility and other infrastructure, Ukraine’s prosecutor general office said on Telegram. The debris hit a tram and a bus with passengers inside, it added.
As emergency workers tried to resuscitate a man, raging flames, smoke and burnt cars could be seen in the background.
Russian troops had used two guided bombs to hit a residential area, the regional governor Ivan Fedorov told reporters.
At least four of the injured were rushed to hospital in serious condition, Fedorov said, adding that Thursday would be an official day of mourning.
“There is nothing more cruel than launching aerial bombs on a city, knowing that ordinary civilians will suffer,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X, urging Ukraine’s Western allies to step up pressure on Russia.
Regional authorities reported further explosions after the first strike hit.
Fedorov said Russian troops shelled the town of Stepnohirsk, south of Zaporizhzhia, killing two people. Two residents were pulled alive from underneath rubble.
Russia regularly carries out air strikes on the Zaporizhzhia region, which its forces partially occupy, and its capital. Moscow claims to have annexed the Ukrainian region along with four others including Crimea.
Public broadcaster Suspilne also reported two people killed and 10 injured in attacks on several centers in the southern region of Kherson, also partially occupied by Russian forces.


US to announce new weapons package for Ukraine as defense leaders prepare to meet in Germany

Updated 08 January 2025
Follow

US to announce new weapons package for Ukraine as defense leaders prepare to meet in Germany

  • The group’s future is unclear with President-elect Donald Trump set to take office on Jan. 20
  • Advisers to Trump have floated proposals to end the Ukraine war that would cede large parts of the country to Russia for the foreseeable future

WASHINGTON: The US is expected to announce $500 million in military aid for Ukraine on Thursday at a final gathering of President Joe Biden’s weapons pledging conferences, meetings Kyiv says have been critical to its defense against Russia.
The Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), comprised of about 50 allies who usually meet every few months at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, was started in 2022 by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to speed and synchronize the delivery of arms to Kyiv.
The group’s future is unclear with President-elect Donald Trump set to take office on Jan. 20. Advisers to Trump have floated proposals to end the Ukraine war that would cede large parts of the country to Russia for the foreseeable future.
Washington has committed more than $63.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion and the additional $500 million could be announced later on Wednesday, a US official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
On Thursday, the defense leaders will meet at Ramstein Air Base for the 25th UDCG meeting.
“We’re not sunsetting the group. The next administration is completely welcome and encouraged ... to take the mantle of this 50 country strong group and continue to drive and lead through it,” said a senior US defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“It will endure in some capacity, in some form going forward, I believe, regardless of exactly how the next team does or doesn’t pursue it,” the official said.
Trump will have a few billion dollars in appropriated money that he could use for Ukraine’s military needs once he takes office.
The official added that the Thursday meeting would look to endorse roadmaps for Ukraine’s military needs and objectives through 2027.
More than 12,300 civilians have been killed in the Ukraine war since Russia invaded nearly three years ago, the United Nations said, noting a spike in casualties due to the use of drones, long-range missiles and glide bombs.
Ukraine said on Tuesday its forces were “commencing new offensive actions” in Russia’s western Kursk region.
Ukraine first seized part of the Kursk region in a surprise incursion last August, and it has held territory there for five months despite losing some ground.
The apparent escalation in the fighting in the Kursk region comes at a critical time for Ukraine, whose outnumbered and outgunned troops are struggling to repel Russian advances in the east.


Gunfire heard near presidency in Chad capital

Updated 08 January 2025
Follow

Gunfire heard near presidency in Chad capital

  • A security source said armed men had attacked the interior of the presidential compound

N’DJAMENA: Sustained gunfire was heard Wednesday evening near the presidency in Chad’s capital N’Djamena, AFP reporters said.
A security source said armed men had attacked the interior of the presidential compound but authorities made no immediate comment.
All roads leading to the presidency have been blocked and tanks could be seen on the streets of the capital, according to an AFP reporter on the scene.
The gunfire erupted less than two weeks after the landlocked country in Africa’s northern half held a contested general election.
The government hailed it as a key step toward ending military rule, but it was marked by low turnout and opposition allegations of fraud.
The election had taken place against a backdrop of recurring attacks by the jihadist group Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region, the ending of a military accord with former colonial master France, and accusations that Chad was interfering in the conflict ravaging neighboring Sudan.
Several hours earlier on Tuesday, China’s foreign minister Wang Li met with President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno and other senior officials.
The former French colony hosted France’s last military bases in the region known as the Sahel, but at the end of November it ended the defense and security agreements with Paris.
Around a thousand French military personnel were stationed there, and are in the process of being withdrawn.
France is now reconfiguring its military presence in Africa after being driven out of three Sahelian countries governed by juntas hostile to Paris — Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Senegal and the Ivory Coast have also asked France to leave military bases on their territory.


Baby born on migrant vessel in Atlantic: Spanish rescuers

Updated 08 January 2025
Follow

Baby born on migrant vessel in Atlantic: Spanish rescuers

  • “Christmas ended in the Canaries with the rescue of a baby born while crossing the sea,” the coast guard said
  • A record 46,843 undocumented migrants reached the Canary Islands in 2024

MADRID: Spanish coast guards rescued a baby that was born on an inflatable vessel carrying migrants to the Canary Islands, authorities said on Wednesday.
The newborn was recovered safely along with their mother on Monday, the coast guard service said in a message on X.
They were the latest to make the crossing that has seen thousands drown as migrants try to reach the Atlantic archipelago from Africa.
“Christmas ended in the Canaries with the rescue of a baby born while crossing the sea,” the coast guard said.
A coast guard boat “rescued a mother who had given birth aboard the inflatable craft in which she was traveling with a large group of people.”
The two were taken by helicopter to Arrecife on the island of Lanzarote, it added.
A record 46,843 undocumented migrants reached the Canary Islands in 2024 via the Atlantic route, official data showed this month.


Ethiopians celebrate Christmas as natural calamities and conflict take their toll

Updated 08 January 2025
Follow

Ethiopians celebrate Christmas as natural calamities and conflict take their toll

  • The patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church called for reconciliation and peace in a nation where conflict has been often fueled by ethnic strife

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia’s Orthodox Christians are celebrating Christmas with prayers for peace in the Horn of Africa nation that has faced persistent conflict in recent years.

Ethiopians follow the Julian calendar, which runs 13 days later than the Gregorian calendar, used by Catholic and Protestant churches. They traditionally celebrate by slaughtering animals and joining family members to break the fast after midnight.

The patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abune Mathias, in his televised Christmas Eve message called for reconciliation and peace in a nation where conflict has been often fueled by ethnic strife. Different parts of Ethiopia recently have also faced natural calamities, including mudslides. Earthquakes last week in the remote regions of Afar, Amhara and Oromia have displaced thousands.

Despite the signing of a peace agreement to end the armed conflict in the northern region of Tigray in 2022, recurring conflicts in Amhara, Oromia and elsewhere have caused widespread suffering and forced 9 million children to drop out of school, according to UNICEF.

Almaz Zewdie, who was among thousands of Orthodox Christians attending ceremonies in Addis Ababa’s Medhanyalem Church, said she was praying for peace. 

She was draped in an all-white traditional attire to mark the end of a 43-day fasting period and the birth of Jesus Christ.

“I lost friends and my livelihood,” said Zewdie, a merchant from the tourist town of Gondar, speaking of the toll of the conflict in Amhara, where government troops have been fighting members of a local militia.

Isaias Seyoum, a priest in Addis Ababa’s Selassie Church, said the celebration of Christmas is more than just feasting and merrymaking. It is also a time to share meals with needy people and help those impacted by conflict, including many sheltering in Addis Ababa, he said.