Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori died on Wednesday at the age of 86. He was Peru’s first president of Japanese descent.
His daughter Keiko wrote on social media that her father had just departed to meet the Lord after a long battle with cancer.
Fujimori was born in the Peruvian capital of Lima in 1938. His parents were from the western Japanese prefecture of Kumamoto.
He became Peru’s first president of Japanese descent when he was elected in 1990.
Fujimori rebuilt the country’s economy by combating inflation with austerity measures. He was also credited with improving security by conducting a thorough crackdown on anti-government armed groups.
In 1997, he ordered special forces to rescue people who had been taken hostage at the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima.
Fujimori was criticized at home and internationally for his heavy-handed rule. He resigned as president during a visit to Japan in 2000 and spent five years there in virtual exile.
He was taken into custody in Chile in 2005 after leaving Japan. He was extradited to Peru two years later.
He was convicted of ordering security forces to murder civilians during his time as president and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Fujimori was freed last year after the Constitutional Court ordered his release. He was repeatedly hospitalized due to health problems.
Peru’s presidential office wrote on social media that it regrets the death of the former president. It expressed condolences to his family and conveyed sympathy for their profound pain.
His daughter Keiko wrote on social media that Fujimori will lie in state at the Museum of the Nation from Thursday to Saturday.
She said her father’s body will then be moved to a cemetery in Huachipa.