Daniel Lozano

Updated Monday, February 26, 2024-17:55

  • Latin America Peru frees Alberto Fujimori, the greatest dictator in its history

And in the seventeenth year he rose again.

Alberto Fujimori has returned to the Peruvian arena with thunderous statements that have shaken the country.

The worst dictator in the history of Peru,

who benefited from a controversial pardon

based on humanitarian reasons at the beginning of December, spoke to a local media with remote-directed messages to the government, the opposition, Fujimorism and his own daughter Keiko.

"The government of President Dina Boluarte will continue until 2026, at least Fuerza Popular and Fujimori have agreed," recited the former president,

sentenced for crimes against humanity to 25 years in prison

, which he began serving in 2007.

It's difficult to make so much fuss with so few words.

First within the ruling alliance, which she keeps

Pedro Castillo

's former vice president sitting against all odds in Pizarro's Chair , despite the fact that her unpopularity is close to 90%, according to different surveys.

Boluarte's year at the head of the country has traveled between accusations, scandals and more than fifty victims of the protests in the south of the Andes, young people mostly murdered by the military and police in the midst of the repression.

The presidential version is that the fatalities were 61 civilians (50 in clashes, a good part in the seizure of airports, and 11 in road blockades) and seven uniformed personnel.

The acts of violence and repression cost the country 1,385 million euros.

All attempts to advance an agreement in Congress for presidential and parliamentary advancement, desired by the vast majority of the country, have collided with the political interests of those who make up this alliance, made up of conservative and center-right parties, along with populism. Fujimori, despite the fact that Boluarte comes from the ranks of the radical left.

A Frankenstein pact supported precisely by the pardon for Fujimori, 85, and by the leadership of the all-powerful

César Acuña

, leader of the Alliance for Progress (APP) and the mayor of Lima, the Trumpist

Rafael López Aliaga

.

Fujimori left the Barbadillo prison in Lima in the midst of national and international controversy, just one year after the failed coup d'état of Castillo, one of the two former leaders, along with

Alejandro Toledo,

who remain in the presidents' jail. .

The Constitutional Court

ordered his release for humanitarian reasons

despite the remaining years of his sentence and despite the frontal opposition of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

The government, which is in charge of granting pardons, took a few hours to carry it out, after weighing the pros and cons.

Fujimori's resurrection calls into question the government itself, not only because of the good physical condition demonstrated in his various public appearances.

Fujimori was seen smiling and happy before the entertainment of his followers in a shopping center in the capital and also at a meal with friends, along with his son Kenji.

Boluarte's cabinet must also face an extradition request from Chile in the coming months.

"We do not have any agreement with Fujimori

," the Prime Minister, Alberto Otárola, responded angrily, despite the obvious.

And he went further by issuing a warning to the Fujimori patriarch: "What we would like from the executive branch is that you continue to take care of his health."

The Fujimori Popular Force has

22 of the 130 congressmen

, essential to maintain the official majority.

But Fujimori has also sown doubts within her movement, since leader

Keiko has lost three elections

and is also being prosecuted for corruption.

The current leader of Fuerza Popular faces a trial for money laundering and a request for a sentence, made by the Prosecutor's Office, of 30 years in prison.

Fujimori Sr. advanced the obvious: that

Fuerza Popular will run in those elections

currently scheduled for 2026, although he avoided speaking out in favor of his daughter being the candidate for the fourth time.

"Fujimorism is present, there is an audience," recited the former dictator, knowing that in a country tired of his politicians he still has some popular support.