The death of the strongman leaves a divisive legacy

The controversial former Peruvian president, Alberto Fujimori has died at the age of 86.

For his supporters, Fujimori was the president who saved Peru from the double evil of terrorism and economic collapse.

For his opponents, he was an authoritarian ruler who trampled on the country's democratic institutions to maintain his power.

In 2009, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for human rights abuses during his time in office, including authorising death squad killings, but was released in December after a humanitarian pardon was restored.

Fujimori, an agricultural engineer with Japanese parents, surprisingly defeated Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa to win the Peruvian presidential election in 1990.

Fujimori was a political unknown until weeks before the election.

• 1990: Surprising election victory

• 1992: Dissolves Peru's Congress with military support and assumes greater control

• 1995: Restores Congress and wins a second term by an overwhelming majority

• 2000: Re-elected for a third term despite allegations of electoral fraud

• 2000: Escape to Japan after the Montesinos scandal became known

• 2005: Imprisoned in Chile at the request of the Peruvian authorities

• 2007: Extradition from Chile to face trial in Peru

• 2007: Six years in prison for abuse of power

• 2009: Convicted of human rights violations, 25 years in prison

• 2017: Pardon for health reasons, leading to protests

• 2019: Sent back to prison after Supreme Court overturned pardon in 2018

• 2023: Released from prison

• 2024: Dies of tongue cancer

Few knew what to expect when he took over a country on the brink of economic collapse and rocked by political violence.

He implemented a radical program of market economy reforms, cut subsidies, privatized state-owned enterprises and restricted the role of the state in almost all areas of the economy.

Although this shock therapy brought great hardship to the ordinary people of Peru, it ended rampant hyperinflation and paved the way for sustained economic growth in the second half of the 1990s.

Fujimori also attacked the leftist rebels whose decade-long insurgency claimed thousands of lives, but he says he never endorsed a “dirty war” against the rebels.

In 1992, with the support of the military, the president dissolved the Peruvian parliament and courts and seized dictatorial powers.

He justified the measure by saying that the legislature and judiciary had hindered the security forces in their fight against the rebels.

Opposition politicians said he was actually trying to evade democratic responsibility.

But that same year, his position was confirmed in the eyes of many Peruvians by the arrest of the leader of the main rebel group, the Shining Path.

In 1995, Fujimori ran for re-election and won a landslide victory.

Most voters cited his victories over left-wing insurgents and hyperinflation as reasons for their support.

One of the key moments of his presidency was the hostage-taking of the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima by Marxist MRTA rebels in 1996–1997.

After a four-month stalemate, commandos were sent to take over the building.

All 14 rebels were killed and almost all 72 hostages were rescued in an operation that cemented Fujimori's reputation as a man of action.

But during his second term, more and more Peruvians began to express concern that the methods used against the uprising were also being used against the president's democratic opponents.

His critics accused him of abusing Vladimiro Montesinos' secret service to intimidate and spy on competitors.

They accused him of exercising unfair control over the media and the judiciary and of using state resources to support his own campaigns.

This criticism intensified when he announced that he would run for an unprecedented third consecutive term.

Although he won the elections in May 2000, this victory marked the beginning of his decline.

A tape has surfaced that apparently shows Montesinos bribing an opposition member of Congress.

After the scandal became known, the opposition gained control of Congress for the first time in eight years and dismissed Fujimori on the grounds of “moral incapacity”.

In November 2000, he fled to his parents' homeland, Japan, where he lived in self-imposed exile for five years.

In an effort to revive his political career and run for president again, he flew to Chile in November 2005, but was arrested at the request of the Peruvian authorities.

Fujimori then spent two years fighting to avoid extradition to face a series of charges, a battle he lost in September 2007.

In December 2007, he was found guilty of abuse of power and sentenced to six years in prison after confidential video and audio recordings were seized from Vladimir Montesinos' home.

In April 2009, judges found him guilty of ordering death squad killings in two incidents known as La Cantuta and Barrios Altos, as well as the kidnapping of a journalist and a businessman.

Fujimori repeatedly denied the allegations and said they were politically motivated.

The 15-month trial and the resulting division in public opinion reflected the controversy that has accompanied Fujimori throughout his political career.

His private life was also eventful.

During his term in office, Fujimori divorced his wife Susana Higuchi after dismissing her as First Lady in favor of their daughter Keiko.

Fujimori married his long-time Japanese girlfriend Satomi Kataoka in 2006 while in a Chilean prison camp facing extradition on charges of corruption and human rights violations.

Keiko Fujimori followed her father into politics and ran in the Peruvian presidential elections in 2010, 2016 and 2021 as a candidate of the right-wing Popular Force party.

Father and daughter remained close friends, and while he was in prison serving his 25-year sentence for human rights violations, she campaigned vigorously for his release.

The former president was pardoned and released in 2017, but was sent back to prison in 2019 when Peru's Supreme Court overturned the controversial pardon.

Last year the pardon was finally renewed and he was released in December.