The End of Fujimori

 
It's about time! read graffiti on the wall of the presidential palace in Lima the day after President Alberto Fujimori resigned. Accusations of corruption and abuse of power, media pressure and the actions of Vladimiro Montesinos-a top presidential advisor and head of Peru's National Intelligence Service-were among the reasons behind Fujimori's decision to step down.

But the main factor leading to Fujimori's fall was Montesinos, argued OAS Secretary General César Gaviria. "The difficult situation in Peru is the consequence of allowing a citizen to be above the political control of Congress, hold excessive and undue power over the judicial branch, influence the management of the media and have at his service the state intelligence agency for purposes that were totally at odds with the interests of the Peruvian state," Gaviria said.

Fujimori's story is an example of an unfortunate trend repeated in Latin American history. Mario Vargas Llosa's latest novel, La fiesta del chivo, about the fall of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, gives a glimpse of the pattern. Leaders who start off as the "saviors" of their nation fall from grace as the public becomes disenchanted with the abuses and corruption of their regimes. Trujillo was held up as the "benefactor" of his people for resolving the Dominican Republic's debt to the United States, creating a modern and professional armed forces, and investing in public works. However, his 30-year regime was characterized by corruption, assassinations, disappearances and "the delivery of the bodies, souls and consciences of millions of Dominicans to one single man," in the words of Vargas Llosa.

With his university training and an undeniable talent for administration, Fujimori was not a typical autocrat. In his resignation letter, Fujimori pointed out that his 10 years in office had resulted in "the successful execution of an anti-inflationary economic program, internal peace and peace with Ecuador and Chile, among other basic accomplishments." Argentina's La Nación was among the papers in the region to predict that "history will credit him for defeating Peru's guerrilla forces, implementing an economic model that created enormous wealth, and preventing drug traffickers from extending their operations to the Amazon." Colombia's El Tiempo also stated that "Peru cannot ignore the Fujimori era, when an agronomist became his people's idol for reining in a 7,000% annual inflation rate, virtually eliminating the Shining Path and MRTA guerrillas, dissolving the legislature in favor of a constituent assembly, signing a peace agreement with Ecuador, and rescuing 72 hostages from the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima." Both papers agreed, however, that it was Fujimori's ambition to remain in power that ultimately led to his resignation from a Tokyo hotel room.

The costs will be high for Peru and its democratic system. Two developments are cause for hope: the decision of the Peruvian Congress to declare Fujimori unfit to govern by reason of "moral incapacity"; and the ascendance to the presidency of Valentín Paniagua, the president of Congress, in accordance with the laws of succession specified in the Peruvian Constitution. This orderly transfer of power has brought some stability to a difficult moment of transition.

For the time being, however, Peru remains politically divided. Both the civilian government and the military have felt the effects of corruption and the country's serious social and economic problems. The continuation in office of a leader who abused power at the cost of democracy brought the country to this point.