Satomi Kataoka, widow of Alberto Fujimori, speaks out for the first time in years: “I loved him like a father”

Japanese businesswoman Satomi Kataoka, widow of former dictator Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), has revealed in an unpublished letter that she planned to return to Japan recently; however, she was unable to do so because, like her late husband, she was suffering from cancer. “After the presidential elections, I intended to visit him many times, but I was fighting the disease. Thank God I was able to fully recover, but due to side effects, I was unable to make the trip,” reads a letter in English, released this Sunday by Punto Final.

Kataoka, whom Fujimori met during her voluntary exile in Japan, said she was devastated by the death of the former autocrat, who was buried last Saturday in a private cemetery on the outskirts of Lima. This was the first public statement after years of silence and anonymity. “He always had his heart with the people of Peru. This sudden news has not yet been assimilated, and the memories of my time with him come flooding back to me like a revolving lantern. He was a kind, sincere and honest man,” she said.

“During his exile and imprisonment in Peru, I provided him with both emotional and material support. I believe he reflected deeply and summed up his own life. From the bottom of my heart, I offer my sincerest condolences. Thank you very much. Goodbye to the president whom I loved like a father. When we are reborn, I hope to meet him again. I cannot hold back my tears,” she continued.

The hotelier also mentioned the bond Fujimori maintained with his son, Shinnosuke Kataoka, the fruit of his only previous marriage. “Thank you also for taking such good care of him,” she noted in the final lines. According to the Sunday paper, the former autocrat communicated with him frequently, and even told him that he could no longer sleep because of the pain caused by his neoplastic disease.

The letter was initiated by audiovisual producers Juan Zacarías and Patricia Zumaeta, who met her in Chile and maintain constant communication with Shinnosuke.

Part of Satomi Kataoka’s letter displayed at Punto Final

The former dictator spent the last years of his exile at the Princess Garden Hotel in Tokyo’s Meguro district, owned by Kataoka, who is also a book author. The marriage in absentia was registered in Tokyo in 2006, when he was detained in Chile and subjected to an extradition process requested by the Peruvian government for violation of human rights and other corruption crimes.

The documentary powers of attorney, essential for celebrating the union, were registered at Shinagawa City Hall and presented by an employee of the Princess Garden Hotel. Fujimori, 67 at the time, described the event as “the happiest day” of his life, while Kataoka, 39, promised to “dedicate her life” to protecting him, according to documents cited by the EFE agency.

That same year, the businesswoman, who could now receive the former autocrat’s life pension, arrived in Lima to confirm her marriage during a closing campaign rally in which former legislator Martha Chávez was a presidential candidate. Months earlier, she had met with the daughters that Fujimori had with Susana Higuchi, who divorced him in 1994 after accusing him of kidnapping and electroshock torture inside the military complex known as the Pentagonito.

The former president received the honors corresponding to a sitting president. (Source: Canal N)

José Alejandro Godoy, researcher and author of El último dictador, told La República that the last time anyone heard from Kataoka was in 2009, when he expressed his discontent over the 25-year prison sentence imposed on the former dictator for his responsibility in two massacres and two kidnappings.

“From then on, there was no knowledge of the real relationship and whether that marriage was dissolved in Japan or whether it continued (…) The Fujimori family has not given any kind of information in this regard. In 2008, she confessed that the marriage was a way of trying to help him avoid the extradition process,” he added.

Fujimori died at the age of 86 from complications of cancer. The funeral ceremony was attended by his children and closest relatives, as well as representatives of the Fujimori party, while hundreds of his followers remained in another nearby area of ​​the cemetery.

Keiko, leader of Fuerza Popular and his political heir, did not mention Kataoka, although she did mention his mother. “My father wanted to be buried here. His first release was to come here. When he left, he told me ‘thank you for bringing me, I also want to be here; not next to, but close to your mother’ (Susana Higushi). Despite the divorce, which was so hard for us, the children finally became friends,” she said.