Alberto Fujimori

Born in Lima in 1938, the son of Japanese immigrants, Fujimori was an agronomist and university rector before entering politics during Peru's internal conflict and economic collapse. Elected president in 1990, he became the country's first leader of Japanese descent. In 1992, with military backing, he carried out a self-coup, dissolving Congress and the Supreme Court, and adopted Plan Verde - a campaign that included forced sterilizations targeting indigenous Peruvians and extrajudicial killings alongside the war against Shining Path guerrillas. He drafted a new constitution in 1993, won reelection in 1995, and controversially claimed a third term in 2000. That year, facing corruption charges and human rights allegations, he fled to Japan and faxed his resignation; Peru's congress rejected it and removed him as "permanently morally disabled." Japan refused extradition until 2005, when he traveled to Chile and was arrested, then sent to Lima in 2007. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, pardoned in 2017, and released in December 2023 after years of legal battles. He died in September 2024.