A friend’s wife is a 21-year-old Peruvian. According to her, translated through my friend as I don’t speak Spanish, Alberto Fujimori is still popular in Peru despite his conviction of human rights violations. From what little I know, and without looking it up, these violations were that he allowed or ordered terrorists to be summarily executed after they had surrendered. According to Friend’s Wife, Fujimori’s 25-year prison sentence was the result of a political grudge more than the extralegal killing of terrorists. She thinks he’ll be pardoned if the current president loses the next election to an opposition party candidate.
He was convicted of a few things. First, that he sent a death squad to execute a Shining Path cell, but they accidentally got the wrong apartment and killed a group of civilians having a barbeque (the Barrios Altos massacre). Second, that he sent the death squad to abduct and kill a college professor and nine students suspected of complicity in the Tarata bombing (the La Cantuna massacre). Third, that he was complicit in the government kidnappings of Samuel Dyer and Gustavo Gorriti.
It’s clear that in Barrios Altos he didn’t know it was going to happen and very sure in La Cantuta. He was sentenced because he should have known, stopped and convicted the criminals as commander in chief and being, in his own words, in charge of blotting out terrorism. There was no credible evidence or testimony poitning directly to him. Lots of “he told me the President knew” or “how could he have not known?”.
My guess is that turned a blind eye rather than actually giving orders.
In the cases of Dyer and Gorriti the sentence was ridiculous because he was charged with aggravated kidnapping, which entails violence or torture, which by the accounts of both guys was not present.
Gorriti was held for less than 24 hours and after complaining to the presidente in a press conference about his “missing laptop” it was given back.
Dyer was held for almost a week in a military instalation. He was given a private room and treated very well.
They were kidnapped, but without violence.
The sentence was excessive, even if he was giulty of everything he was charged with.
I was young when i left Peru but some of my earliest memories were of never having power during hollidays because the terrorists blew something up like clockwork. I could easily imagine people being willing to overlook a lot of things for the guy who got rid of terrorism, think how much Bush would be forgiven if he had finished Al Queada and captured Bin Laden? and those guys aren’t blowing up stuff in the US constantly.
We learnt how little water you needed to have a shower…using a couple of 2-litre bottles and a plastic cup.
Of course, massive and senseless murders, millions displaced, one year’s worth of GDP lost in a decade…doesn’t justify wrongdoings but you feel so happy when they end that you have no energy to accuse them, you want life to be normal again.
His daughter got the highest number of votes for congress in the 2006 election (pre-trial though) and she is a leading candidate for 2011, and she’s married to a US guy.
