The courts, the jail or the grave. A tragic fate has involved the exercise of power in Peru since the end of the dictatorship in 1980. In the most recent episode, former President Alejandro Toledo was imprisoned this Sunday after his extradition from the United States.
Of the 13 presidents that the country has had since 1980, only Fernando Belaunde Terry (1980-1985), Valentín Paniagua (eight months in 2000-2001) and Francisco Sagasti (eight months in 2020-2021) came out unscathed.
Investigated for the mega bribery scandal of the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, Toledo, 77 years old and who according to his lawyers suffers from cancer, shares the Barbadillo prison with Pedro Castillo and Alberto Fujimori, perhaps the only prison in the world exclusively for former presidents.
Below are the most recent cases of former presidents who have fallen from grace.
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Castillo, dismissed and imprisoned
Pedro Castillo, the 53-year-old schoolteacher of peasant origin, whose presidency in 2021 was seen as a vindication of the poor and excluded Peruvians, ended up imprisoned in Lima accused of corruption and rebellion, after trying to dissolve Congress and rule by decree.
Parliament approved this year to remove his immunity and a judge ordered him preventive detention until December 2025.
His dismissal on December 7 unleashed a wave of protests that have left at least fifty dead, including a policeman and six soldiers.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor’s office is investigating the current president, Dina Boluarte, who was Castillo’s vice president, for the alleged crimes of money laundering and genocide for the repression of protests.
The suicide of Alan Garcia
Leader of the historic social democratic party APRA, Alan García shot himself in the head when he was going to be detained by the police at his home in Lima, on April 17, 2019. He was 69 years old.
He had a preliminary arrest warrant against him for an investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office for alleged illegal campaign contributions and bribes from Odebrecht, accusations that he always denied.
García ruled Peru twice, in 1985-1990 and 2006-2011.
Former President Alejando Toledo will serve 18 months in preventive detention in Peru
Alberto Fujimori, sentenced
Alberto Fujimori, the father of opposition leader Keiko Fujimori who ruled from 1990 to 2000, led the country out of the economic crisis and defeated the Maoist and Guevarist guerrillas.
In 1992, he staged a “self-coup” by dissolving Congress to rule as an autocrat while law enforcement committed crimes against civilians amid the anti-insurgency struggle. His right-hand man, Vladimiro Montesinos, set up an espionage and bribery scheme to silence opponents.
Extradited from Chile in 2007, Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison for corruption and crimes against humanity. The 84-year-old former president is serving his sentence at the Barbadillo police station. He was free for a year on a pardon that was later annulled.
Humala and his wife, prisoners
Ollanta Humala, 60, served pretrial detention in 2017, accused of having received three million dollars from Odebrecht during his electoral campaign. He governed between 2011 and 2016. He was accused in 2019 and is on trial, along with his wife Nadine Heredia, 46, since February 21, 2022.
Both appear in court on probation and are exposed to a sentence of around 15 years in prison.
Kuczynski, awaiting trial
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned in March 2018, on the eve of Congress removing him over the Odebrecht scandal.
He had always denied having ties to the construction company, until the latter denied it, saying that it had paid him for consultancies.
Aged 84, he spent three years until April 2022 under house arrest, which was replaced by restrictions on his freedom while the Prosecutor’s Office prepares to take him to trial for alleged money laundering.
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Vizcarra, dismissed and disqualified
Removed in a lightning impeachment trial in November 2020 by Congress, Martín Vizcarra (2018-2020) was also disqualified from holding public office for 10 years.
In addition, the Prosecutor’s Office is investigating him for allegedly receiving bribes while he was governor of Moquegua (south) and faces two other inquiries: having been vaccinated irregularly against covid-19 and allegedly favoring a controversial singer with advice.
Vizcarra, 60, who governed with record levels of popularity, obtained the highest national vote as a candidate for Congress for the 2021-2026 period, but was unable to take his seat because he was disqualified.
The post President of Peru, a high-risk job first appeared on Nicaragua Investiga.
2023-04-24 05:10:02
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