GOVERNMENT OF ALBERTO FUJIMORI: FIRST AND SECOND GOVERNMENT - HISTORY - 2025

The government of Alberto Fujimori developed in Peru from 1990 to 2000. His mandate was divided into three stages, with two intermediate re-elections. After having to leave office, Fujimori has been persecuted by the justice of his country on various charges of corruption and violation of human rights.

Alberto Fujimori ran for the 1990 elections with no prior political experience. Leading a party created by himself, Cambio 90, he managed to win over Mario Vargas Llosa, his rival in the second round.

Alberto Fujimori - Source: Staff Sergeant Karen L. Sanders, United States Air Force, identification number 981003-F-NS535-001

That first term had as a turning point the self-coup that Fujimori carried out when he closed Congress and assumed all powers. Although he had some economic successes, his government was characterized by its authoritarian look. It succeeded in reducing terrorist activity, but at the cost of numerous human rights violations.

Fujimori ran for a second term in 1995 and a third in 2000. After winning the 2000 elections, evidence emerged of the government's involvement in serious corruption cases, most of which were led by his adviser Vladimiro Montesinos. The situation created forced the president to resign and go into exile in Japan.

First government

The political career of Alberto Fujimori (Lima, July 28, 1938) began with the presidential elections of 1990. Before, this agronomist and former rector of the La Molina National Agrarian University, was not known in public activity.

The previous year, he had created the Cambio 90 movement, which received the support of some small businessmen and a part of the evangelical churches.

To everyone's surprise, Fujimori achieved 20% in the first round, so he attended the second to face the writer Mario Vargas Llosa.

With the support of some left-wing groups and the outgoing Aprista government of Alan García, Fujimori won the vote by getting 60% of the votes. During that time he began to work with a fundamental character during his presidency, the lawyer and ex-military Vladimiro Montesinos.

Take command

Alberto Fujimori began his mandate on July 28, 1990. He soon left the evangelical groups that had supported him and began to receive economic advice from the International Monetary Fund and the United States, who sent advisers to Lima to implement his shock plans..

Economy

When he began his work as president, Fujimori replaced the economic team that had accompanied him until then with a group of more neoliberal economists.

As a candidate, he had promised not to apply any shock measures, but upon reaching the presidency, he decided to apply the IMF's recommendations. On August 8, 1990, the government announced a price restructuring, popularly known as the “fujishock”.

Among the positive results of these measures, it is worth mentioning that it allowed controlling inflation, but it was at the cost of a significant devaluation of wages. With this economic policy, Peru began to follow the so-called Washington Consensus, which recommended carrying out a tax reform, following rigorous fiscal discipline, and freeing up all economic sectors.

Likewise, it proceeded to privatize some companies, such as Compañía Peruana de Telefónica a la Española Telefónica. Its critics claimed that it was actually clientelist capitalism, as it was creating new monopolies.

Fujimori stabilized the economic life of the country, which allowed Peru to return to the international financial system. The cost of jobs, public and private companies, was very high. National industry protections were reduced to a minimum, causing the bankruptcy of numerous companies.

Hurtado Cabinet Crisis

The first major crisis in the Fujimori government occurred in February 1991. The Minister of Economy and President of the Council of Ministers, Juan Carlos Hurtado, resigned from all his positions.

The cause was the political scandal that followed the publication of an alternative stabilization plan for the economy drawn up by the Minister of Industry, Commerce, Tourism and Integration. He proposed that the measures be applied gradually, especially since inflation was not falling.

The rest of the cabinet placed his position at the disposal of the President, who, trying to solve the problem, quickly introduced his substitutes.

Self-coup

Although Fujimori had easily won the presidential elections, his party had not had the same result in the votes for Congress. Thus, it only won 32 seats, behind APRA and FREDEMO. This caused continuous confrontations between the President and the House.

Congress had granted legislative powers to the government, but the House reviews of the bills did not appeal to Fujimori. He took advantage of the bad image of Congress to start a smear campaign, claiming that it was a hindrance to fixing the country's problems.

It was in that time, according to experts, when he began to plan the closing of Congress and the absolute seizure of power. This took place on April 5, 1992, when Fujimori declared to the nation that Congress was suspended, as were the activities of the Judiciary.

The army, with few exceptions, supported the coup and was deployed in the streets. In the same way, some media were attacked and opposition figures were kidnapped.

Government of Emergency and National Reconstruction

From that moment on, Fujimori ruled assuming all powers. His government was baptized as the Government of Emergency and National Reconstruction, and it received accusations of authoritarianism from the beginning.

External pressures forced the president to call elections to form a Democratic Constituent Congress, which promulgated a new Constitution that changed the functioning of the State, with more power for the President and less for Congress. The Magna Carta was approved in a referendum in 1993, obtaining 52.24% of the votes.

Terrorism and human rights

The great challenge, apart from the economy, that the Fujimori government had to face was the terrorism of the Shining Path. The attacks occurred from the beginning of the mandate, causing many victims.

The government developed a strategy to end these attacks focused on the action of the army and DIRCOTE. Both groups were in charge of trying to catch the heads of the terrorist organizations, leaving the Anti-Subversive Civil Defense Committees responsible for patrolling and armed combat.

The first result was a decrease in terrorist actions, although human rights violations were frequent and the deaths, in principle by mistake, of innocents.

In December 1991, the Barrios Altos massacre took place, with 15 people killed. The following year, in July, nine university students and a professor were executed.

Both actions were carried out by Grupo Colina, a death squad focused on fighting the Shining Path.

The security forces struck hard at terrorism. His greatest success was the capture of the leader of the Shining Path, Abimael Guzmán. After this, the terrorist organization was reducing its action, until it was reduced to small columns settled in the jungle.

Ecuador

In addition to the capture of Guzmán, there was another event that made it easier for Fujimori to win the following elections. A border dispute with Ecuador sparked military clashes in March 1995. Before the conflict escalated, the two countries began talks, signing two ceasefire agreements.

Later, Peru and Ecuador signed the Itamaraty Declaration of Peace, by which they committed to resolving their differences peacefully. Finally, in October 1998, Fujimori and Jamil Mahuad (president of Ecuador) signed the Presidential Act of Brasilia, which definitively established the border limit.

Second Government

The new Constitution allowed presidents to be reelected. Fujimori appeared in the 1995 voting, defeating Javier Pérez de Cuellar.

Amnesty Law

The first step Fujimori took after being reelected was to enact an amnesty law. This sought to end all trials and investigations, present and future, on human rights violations that had been committed by State agents.

Likewise, it also included those who had been involved in the conflict with Ecuador.

Hostage taking

On December 17, 1996, terrorism struck Peru again when it seemed that it had already disappeared. The MRTA took the home of the Japanese ambassador in Lima, retaining businessmen, diplomats, politicians, and military personnel from various countries.

The situation lasted for 126 days, with the terrorists demanding the release of 440 members of the MRTA in exchange for the lives of the 72 hostages.

The negotiations that were held did not achieve any results. On April 22, 1997, the President gave an order to storm the embassy. The raid, which ended with the kidnapping, cost the lives of a hostage, two officers and the 14 terrorists. The operation was called Chavín de la Huerta.

Control of the media

Although allegations of pressuring the media to report on their behalf began in 1992, it was during the second term that this reached its peak.

Many of the directors of the media had been bribed, thus ensuring a good deal on their part. In charge of this policy was the strong man of the government, Vladimiro Montesinos.

Apart from bribes, journalists were also threatened and intimidated. Some of those who remained critical, such as Cesar Hildebrandt, lost their jobs. Later, a plan to assassinate critical journalists was denounced.

On the other hand, Fujimori financed several small publications, whose main function was to give a mocking image of the opponents.

Montesinos

Since Fujimori began his second term, Vladimiro Montesinos began to be known as a “shadow advisor”. Many linked it to the Colina Group, but Congress did not allow it to be investigated.

One of the first accusations against Montesinos occurred during the trial of drug trafficker Demetrio Chávez. He declared that he paid $ 50,000 a month to the presidential adviser in exchange for protection for his businesses.

In April 1997, the television channel Frequency Latina issued a report in which several complaints against Montesinos appeared, of an economic nature. The following year, a former intelligence agent stated that Montesinos had ordered to spy on the telephone conversations of opposition politicians and journalists.

As the 2000 elections approached, the accusations against Montesinos grew. At first, Fujimori confirmed his trust in him and defended him, leading to him being charged with complicity.

2000 elections

The popularity of the Fujimori government began to decline in the late 1990s. Corruption, economic difficulties and its clear intentions to perpetuate itself in power caused the opposition to strengthen.

With a highly questioned interpretation of the electoral laws, Fujimori ran again in the 2000 elections. The campaign was plagued with accusations of fraud until it reached the day of the voting. His main rival was Alejandro Toledo, of the Peru Posible movement.

The first round of voting was won by Fujimori. Toledo accused the president of fraud and resigned from participating in the second round, calling on the population to vote blank. This option won 17% of the vote, but it could not prevent Fujimori from being victorious.

The opposition called several protests, the most important taking place, the March of the Four Suyos, on the day of Fujimori's inauguration.

During this demonstration, a fire broke out in a headquarters of the Central Bank, during which 6 employees died. Opponents accused the government of infiltrating thugs into the march and setting the fire.

Third government and the fall of Fujimori

Shortly after starting his third presidential term, the Fujimori government took the last blow. The opposition released a video on September 14 that proved Montesinos' participation in acts of corruption.

The images showed the government adviser bribing members of other parties, causing a crisis in the government. On the 16th, Fujimori announced to the country that he was going to call new elections, both presidential and for Congress. The President promised not to participate.

Montesinos was immediately fired, although Fujimori's gratitude for his services sparked outrage. In addition, the President paid him $ 15 million in compensation.

Fujimori, in the midst of all this situation of political instability, undertook, on November 13, a trip to Brunei to attend an international summit. By surprise, when the meetings ended, the President headed to Tokyo, Japan, deciding not to return to Peru.

From the Japanese capital, Fujimori sent a fax to Congress' presenting his resignation from the Presidency.

Years later, in 2007, he was tried for acts of corruption and for the murders of the students of La Cantuta and the Barrios Altos case, in addition to other criminal charges.

References

1. El Mundo newspaper. Fujimori political chronology since 1990. Obtained from elmundo.es
2. Biographies and Lives. Alberto Fujimori. Obtained from biografiasyvidas.com
3. Express. Second government of Alberto Fujimori: the breaking point. Obtained from expreso.com.pe
4. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Alberto Fujimori. Retrieved from britannica.com
5. BBC News. Alberto Fujimori profile: Deeply divisive Peruvian leader. Retrieved from bbc.com
6. Peru Support Group. The Fujimori Years. Retrieved from perusupportgroup.org.uk
7. Trial International. Alberto Fujimori. Retrieved from trialinternational.org
8. Reuters. Facts about Peru's Alberto Fujimori. Retrieved from reuters.com