Police in Peru have fired tear gas and clashed with protesters demonstrating against the official pardon of ex-president Alberto Fujimori.<\/p>\n
Tensions were high in Peru’s capital, Lima, on Monday, as thousands took to the streets, a day after current President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski ordered Fujimori’s clemency on health grounds.<\/p>\n
In 2009, Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison for corruption, kidnapping and human rights violations.<\/p>\n
The 79-year-old was released from prison and sent to intensive care on Saturday, after a severe drop in his blood pressure.<\/p>\n
Fujimori was found guilty of his role in disappearances and murders by a government-sanctioned death squad, Grupo Colina, during the 1990s.<\/p>\n
A poll conducted in May this year showed 59 percent of Peru’s population supported a pardon of Fujimori, who was president between 1990 and 2000.<\/p>\n
“My greatest pain is to acknowledge that to a part of the population, Alberto Fujimori was able to portray himself as a victim – looking frail, a depressing image, a hostage of the judiciary,” Guillen said.<\/p>\n
Norma Mendez, mother of one of Fujimori’s victims, said she wanted Fujimori to complete his sentence.<\/p>\n
“They don’t care about our suffering, about our desolation and the pain we still endure. We will never find peace. He’s old while I’m old too. I haven’t found justice, so he must complete his sentence,” Mendez said.<\/p>\n
However, supporters say Fujimori was crucial in defeating the Shining Path, a communist group that started a violent rebellion in the early 1980s, and preventing an all-out civil war.<\/p>\n
Fujimori’s supporters also say it was he who made possible the economic recovery of Peru during the 1990s.<\/p>\n
Despite his release, Fujimori is facing another trial. A case is pending for the death of six people.<\/p>\n
If he is convicted, he could be facing another 25-year sentence.<\/p>\n
Families of the victims have vowed to continue fighting against Fujimori.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Police in Peru have fired tear gas and clashed with protesters demonstrating against the official pardon of ex-president Alberto Fujimori. Tensions were high in Peru’s capital, Lima, on Monday, as thousands took to the streets, a day after current President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski ordered Fujimori’s clemency on health grounds. In 2009, Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison for… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1178,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177\/revisions\/1178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}