The Rise of Alberto Fujimori

Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. – George Orwell. 

 

 

Times of war and crisis aren't historically known as a time of making the best decisions. In times of famine, death, hopelessness and despair, people have done anything possible to just survive and make it another day. Historically, most dictatorships started by originally being voted in by a nation’s very own people. “How could someone ever vote for their own demise?” “Why would people be as foolish to not see through a tyrant’s lies and deception?” These are remarks made by outside parties looking in, but who really is at fault? Is it the fault of a nation for trusting a person who promised them salvation? Or does the fault lie at the feet of a man who saw an opportunity for power and took it by manipulating, lying, and hurting whoever stood in his way? 

Alberto Fujimori was born in Peru on July 28^th 1938 to his Japanese migrant parents. The Fujimori family’s life was followed by constant bad luck. Fujimori’s parents’ tailoring business failed due to political and economic strain, which led the Fujimori family to try their luck out at cotton growing instead. This worked well for them for a bit, but like their previous venture, the soil dried up and their business failed yet again. As a consequence, the Fujimori family packed up and moved to Lima and started a tire repairing business.  This was a successful endeavor for the family, until the Peruvian government expropriated Japanese owned business as result of pressure from the American government who had just recently faced the attack on Pearl Harbor from the Japanese government. Despite all his hardships, Fujimori was academically gifted and excelled at school. He graduated at the top of his class from the Agrarian National University with a degree in agricultural engineering and later received his Master’s in math from The University of Wisconsin.  His academic success led him to becoming a dean at his alma mater, the Agrarian National University. 

Fast-forward to the 1990’s Peruvian elections. The Peruvian people were divided on two people, President at the time, Alan Garcia and presidential candidate and writer Mario Vargas Llosa. Fujimori entered the race for president and immediately won the nation’s heart by using his compassion for the Campesinos because he too faced poverty and previous prejudice and racism due to his ethnic background. Fujimori became the voice of the people. He spoke for the Indians, the Peruvian Black population, the mestizos, and other Asian-Peruvian people. He represented working class solidarity. The Peruvian working class people were living in fear at this time. They had been facing threats from Sendero Luminoso for almost 10 years at this point. People were scared and Fujimori appeared to them as a gift from above ready to take them to safety. Fujimori won the popular vote and became president, but the very same people he swore to defend eventually became the causalities of war in his claim for power. 

As soon as he got into power, he implemented a program called, “Fujishock”, which consisted in raising the price of many things, for example gasoline by 30,000%. Peru was quoted as “having Bangladeshi salaries with Tokyo prices”. While this did fix Peru’s hyperinflation problem, it affected the working class the most. People were laid-off and could no longer support their family. People were too busy making ends means that protesting this was seen as a luxury and this act was swept under the rug as people suffered from day-to-day life. 

 

Two years later in 1992, Fujimori frustrated by low support to his programs, dissolved congress. With the help of the military, he committed a self-administered coup. This permitted him to rule with no opposition or consequences. In 1992, he also caught Sendero Luminoso’s leader, Abimael Guzman. The public was torn in half. They were glad the terrorist organization was over and done with, but with the rise of Fujimori’s dictatorship in return. 

References:

Alberto Fujimori - Rise and Fall. (n.d.). Projects.exeter.ac.uk. https://projects.exeter.ac.uk/RDavies/inca/fujimori.html

Alberto Fujimori | Biography, Presidency, & Facts. (2019). In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alberto-Fujimori

Peru Impact of the “Fujishock” Program - Flags, Maps, Economy, History, Climate, Natural Resources, Current Issues, International Agreements, Population, Social Statistics, Political System. (n.d.). Photius.com. Retrieved October 18, 2021, from https://photius.com/countries/peru/government/peru_government_impact_of_the_fujis~811.html

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