FUJIMORI DREAMS — The Economist
Readers might find this article of interest. It appeared on July 28 (Peru’s independence day), but since then a number of developments have occurred.
FUJIMORI DREAMS
Jul 28th 2005
A fugitive plots his return
IT MIGHT have been a special day for Alberto Fujimori: July 28th was not only his 67th birthday but the date when he once expected to end a third consecutive term as Peru’s president. Instead, he lives in Tokyo, having resigned by fax as his regime crumbled in November 2000. But Mr Fujimori claims that he will soon return to Peru to run in a presidential election in April 2006.
He has launched a new political party called Si, Cumple (“Yes, he delivers”), renewed his Peruvian voter-identification card and broadcasts a weekly radio programme. On July 22nd, via a television link, he addressed a rally of supporters in Lima. In a crowded field of possible candidates, he tops some polls with up to 23%.
His supporters recall that in his decade in power, Mr Fujimori vanquished the Maoist Shining Path guerrillas and set Peru on a path of episodic economic growth. But he also presided over racketeering and abuse of power. Many of his top collaborators, including Vladimiro Montesinos, his spy chief, are in jail. Prosecutors estimate that $1.8 billion was stolen from the state during his tenure. Mr Fujimori claims, lamely, that he knew nothing of all this.
While one recent poll found that one respondent in two believed that Mr Fujimori will return, this seems unlikely. Congress banned him from holding public office for ten years, until 2011. To achieve a third term–which violated the constitution–Mr Fujimori first packed the constitutional court and then rigged an election in 2000. He faces 22 charges including fraud, kidnapping, murder and organised crime, and is the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant. Peru has filed two requests for his extradition. But Mr Fujimori claims Japanese as well as Peruvian nationality. Japan has made it clear that it does not extradite its own nationals. Peru is mulling whether to take the case to international tribunals.
Mr Fujimori claims to be undeterred. He says he is the victim of political persecution, and points out that investigators have yet to find secret bank accounts in his name. He has two things on his side. One is judicial torpor: of 335 criminal cases relating to his administration, sentence has been passed in only 39. Because of the delay, several defendants have been released. Anti-corruption prosecutors are running out of money and fear that they are losing the battle.
The second factor is the alleged peccadillos of the government of Alejandro Toledo, who was elected as Peru’s president in 2001. These are on a far smaller scale than those of Mr Fujimori’s administration. But in a survey this month by Apoyo, a polling firm, 56% said that corruption is the most serious problem in Peru. Mr Toledo seems to have lost much of his former zeal for fighting graft.
This means that Mr Fujimori’s allies may increase their presence in the country’s Congress next year. In future, perhaps, they could manoeuvre to get the charges against their chief dropped. Until then, it is hard to imagine that Mr Fujimori’s plans for a political comeback are anything more than a dream–or for many Peruvians, a nightmare.