Saving Face in Tokyo

Don’t Vote Fujimori...Better Yet, Don’t Free Him

The Associated Press in Tokyo reports “Fujimori Accepts Offer to Run in Japan Election”.

Currently under house arrest in Chile and accused of a long list of human rights violations during his 10 years as president of Peru, you have to wonder how this might be possible, that he run for parliament in Japan this July. To steal a line from the late Bill Hicks, this guy carries his balls in a wheel barrel.

When I was living in Argentina – 1999 – 2001, Alberto Fujimori and the accusations against him were daily front page headlines throughout Latin America. Words like bribery, extortion, misappropriation of public funds, corruption, torture rooms, illegal imprisonment of political opponents, oppression of indigenous people - I don’t have the exact list - but all common phrases in the dictionary of Latin American dictators were associated with him. Of course, all of this is speculation.

I traveled to Peru while he was in power. There were many applauding his reforms - perhaps the business class of Lima. In the southern towns and villages, even in cities, such as Tacna, armed rebels were actively waging war, though it was overshadowed by conflict in Columbia. This was the explanation I was given for the five teenagers with shotguns riding at the front of our bus with the driver as we headed south from Cusco.

The man hunt for Fujimori’s number one henchman – Montesinos was a drama that spanned the entire South American continent and played out in the media like soap opera meets spy novel, complete with informers, car chases, cosmetic surgery in Venezuela and his eventual arrest in northern Brazil. Clearly, a popular man of the people.

Throughout Latin America Montesinos had been described as a monster. He was just ruthless and evil enough to carry out the orders of Fujimori, which only a monster could do, apparently.

As far as I know, Chile is not in the business of doing Peru any favors. Each has its own problems to contend with. But it seems that Fujimori was so notorious that Chile was pressured to “do the right thing” in the name of Latin solidarity. Peruvians begged for justice.

When I was teaching English in Vancouver, I had a few high profile students from time to time – one being a CEO of a large Korean company headquarters in Tokyo. He told me that he’d met Fujimori personally as they were often invited to the same parties and functions. So they had drunk scotch and sung karaoke together. He said he was a bad singer but that he admired him, as did the others, for becoming such a powerful man.

While I was in Japan, I often asked people about Fujimori. They knew the name. They knew he was a famous personality in Japan.

My worry is, all details swept aside, people will elect him in Japan. He plans to use his influence as a former president to portray himself as a man of experience and, worse yet, may use his imprisonment in Chile to his advantage, spinning the story to that of a victim of politics or prejudice.

You might say he has friends in the right places. But does this story even have anything to do with political ambition? Or is it about saving the face of a disgraced old man.