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01 Feb 15
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Alberto Fujimori Fujimori[2] (Spanish: [alˈβeɾto fuxiˈmoɾi] or [fuʝiˈmoɾi]; Japanese: [ɸuʥiꜜmoɽi]; Japanese: 藤森藤森アルベルト Fujimori Fujimori Arubeto; born 28 July 1938) is a Peruvian former politician and criminal. He was President of Peru from 28 July 1990 to 17 November 2000. A controversial figure, Fujimori has been credited with the creation of Fujimorism, defeating the Shining Path insurgency in Peru and restoring its macroeconomic stability.[3][4][5][6] However, he was criticized for his authoritarian way of ruling the country (especially after 1992) and was accused of human rights violations.[7][8] Even amid his prosecution in 2008 for crimes against humanity relating to his presidency, two-thirds of Peruvians polled voiced approval for his leadership in that period.[9]
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19 May 13
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27 Oct 08
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01 Aug 08
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During his first term in office, Fujimori enacted wide-ranging neoliberal reforms, known as Fujishock. During the previous presidency of Alan García, the Peruvian economy entered a period of hyperinflation and the political system was in crisis due to the country's internal conflict, leaving Peru in "economic and political chaos".[16] It was Fujimori's objective to pacify the nation and restore economic balance. Even though this program bore little resemblance to Fujimori's campaign platform, and was in fact more drastic than anything Vargas Llosa had proposed,[17] Fujishock succeeded in restoring Peru to the global economy, though not without immediate social cost.[18]
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Inflation began to fall rapidly and foreign investment capital flooded in.[19] Fujimori's privatization campaign featured the selling off of hundreds of state-owned enterprises, and the replacing of the troubled Peruvian currency, the inti, with the Nuevo Sol.[16] The Fujishock restored macroeconomic stability to the economy and triggered a considerable long-term economic upturn in the mid-1990s.[20] In 1994, the Peruvian economy grew at a rate of 13%, faster than any other economy in the world.[20]
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During Fujimori's first term in office, APRA and Vargas Llosa's party, FREDEMO, remained in control of both chambers of Congress (the Chamber of Deputies and Senate), hampering his ability to enact his economic reforms. Fujimori also found it difficult to combat the threat posed by the Maoist guerrilla organization Shining Path (Spanish: Sendero Luminoso), largely on account of what he perceived to be the intransigence and obstructionism of Congress.
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In response to the political deadlock, on April 5, 1992 Fujimori, with the support of the military, carried out a presidential coup d'état,[22] also known as the autogolpe (auto-coup or self-coup) or Fujigolpe (Fuji-coup) in Peru. He shut the Congress, suspended the constitution, and purged the judiciary.[23] The coup was welcomed by the public, according to numerous polls.[24]
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Fujimori often cited this public support in defending the coup, which he characterized as "not a negation of real democracy, but on the contrary... a search for an authentic transformation to assure a legitimate and effective democracy."[24]
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Fujimori's coup was immediately met with the near-unanimous condemnation by the international community.[24]
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The Organization of American States denounced the coup and demanded a return to "representative democracy",[27] despite Fujimori's claims that his coup represented a "popular uprising".[24] Various foreign ministers of the OAS reiterated this condemnation of the autogolpe.[25]
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Various states acted to condemn the coup, individually. Venezuela broke off diplomatic relations, and Argentina withdrew its ambassador. Chile joined Argentina in requesting that Peru be suspended from the Organization of American States. International financiers delayed planned or projected loans, and the United States, Germany and Spain suspended all non-humanitarian aid to Peru. The coup appeared to threaten the economic recovery strategy of reinsertion, and complicated the process of clearing arrears with the International Monetary Fund.
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With FREDEMO dissolved and APRA's leader, Alan García, exiled to Colombia, Fujimori sought to legitimize his position. He called elections for a Democratic Constitutional Congress that would serve as a legislature and a constituent assembly. While APRA and Popular Action attempted to boycott this, the Popular Christian Party and many left-leaning parties participated in this election. His supporters won a majority in this body, and drafted a new constitution in 1993.
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One of the first acts of the new congress was to declare an amnesty for all members of the Peruvian military or police accused or convicted of human rights abuses between 1980 and 1995.
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The 1995 election was the turning point in Fujimori's career. Peruvians now began to be more concerned about freedom of speech and the press. However, before he was sworn in for a second term, Fujimori stripped two universities of their autonomy and reshuffled the national electoral board.
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In addition to the nature of democracy under Fujimori, Peruvians were becoming increasingly interested in the myriad criminal allegations involving Fujimori and his chief of the National Intelligence Service, Vladimiro Montesinos. A 2002 report by Health Minister Fernando Carbone would later suggest that Fujimori had played a role in pressuring 200,000 indigenous people in rural areas into being sterilized from 1996 to 2000, as part of a population control program.[4]
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The 1993 constitution limits a presidency to two terms. Shortly after Fujimori began his second term, his supporters in Congress passed a law of "authentic interpretation" which effectively allowed him to run for another term in 2000. A 1998 effort to repeal this law by referendum failed.[34] In late 1999, Fujimori announced that he would run for a third term.
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Exit polls showed Fujimori well short of the 50% required to avoid an electoral runoff, but the first official results showed him with 49.6% of the vote, just short of outright victory. Eventually, Fujimori was credited with 49.89%--20,000 votes short of avoiding a runoff.
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His primary opponent, Alejandro Toledo, called for his supporters to spoil their ballots in the runoff by writing "No to fraud!" on them (voting is mandatory in Peru). International observers pulled out of the country after Fujimori refused to delay the runoff.
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At this point, a corruption scandal involving Vladimiro Montesinos, de-facto chief of Peru's National Intelligence Service (SIN), broke out.
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Fujimori's support virtually collapsed, and on November 10, Fujimori won approval from Congress to hold elections on April 8, 2001--in which he would not be a candidate. On November 13, Fujimori left Peru for a visit to Brunei to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. On November 16, Valentín Paniagua took over as president of Congress after the pro-Fujimori leadership lost a vote of confidence. On November 17, Fujimori traveled from Brunei to Tokyo, where he submitted his presidential resignation via fax.
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30 Jun 08
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