Kenji’s inconsolable crying illustrated the first day of the funeral Alberto Fujimoriwho passed away last Wednesday afternoon after losing his long battle against cancer, and whose remains will be buried tomorrow at noon in the Campo Fe cemetery in Huachipa.
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The funeral procession left Keiko Fujimori’s house a few minutes before 11 a.m. Two of her four children saw him off. Kenji, broken by grief, hugged his sister Keiko before leaving for the Nasca Hall of the Ministry of Culture where the wake would take place.
Congressmen, ministers of state, politicians and supporters were already waiting for him there, and they found in the flowers, photos and posters a way to pay a final tribute to their leader.
The coffin arrived covered with a red and white flag. Once placed in the funeral chapel, the first to approach were the Fujimori Higuchi brothers who simultaneously lifted the lid to see their father’s face. It was then that Kenji – the youngest son who in 2017 managed to pardon his father before the then president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski – broke down in tears again and fell exhausted on the coffin. At his side, his sister Keiko, more restrained, also cried.
Further behind were Erika Muñoz, Kenji’s wife, and Kaori, the youngest daughter of the Fuerza Popular leader. Also, Juana Fujimori, the former president’s sister who was once accused of diverting Japanese aid funds to her NGO Apenkai, and his brother Santiago, who in 1992 was accused by his then sister-in-law Susana Higuchi of misusing Japanese clothing donations.
They were joined by President Dina Boluarte, who offered her condolences to the families. Also present were ministers of State, politicians such as César Acuña and Jorge del Castillo, former congressmen and former ministers of the Fujimori government such as Absalón Vásquez, whose long-standing friendship with Fujimori was reflected in his long and heartfelt embrace with Kenji. Also present was Valeria Valer, daughter of Juan Valer Sandoval, who died during the Chavín de Huántar operation that led to the rescue of 72 MRTA hostages. In the afternoon, Sachie and Kaori arrived, daughter and granddaughter of the former president, about whom new questions are now being raised regarding his legal proceedings and a pending civil compensation payment.
ANALYSIS
Luis Galaretta
(Spokesperson for Fuerza Popular)
“President Fujimori will always be present in his works, in the affection of the people, in the capture of Abimael Guzmán, in the peace with Ecuador, in the Constitution of 1993, which has generated the development of Peru. The president has left a very great legacy. Keiko Fujimori, in all the years of her father’s unjust imprisonment, has kept his legacy alive. President Fujimori is a legend from now on, born in Peru.
In the party we have also followed that legacy and in Congress we will work to make major reforms a reality. This five-year period has unfortunately been different, there was a greater objective, to prevent the country from falling into the hands of communism. There is a Congress that has probably generated a lot of populism now, but one has to choose one’s battles and as democrats we have chosen to try to maintain a certain cohesion so that Parliament and the country do not fall into the hands of communism and in this all forces have made a great effort, and that has its coordination to achieve consensus.
We are left with his constant struggle to continue giving the best to the country despite being aware of his illness, and his desire to be president again. If his legacy brings Fuerza Popular back to government, there will be things to correct.”
MAXIMUS SAN ROMAN
(Vice President of Fujimori’s first government)
“I believe that leadership cannot be inherited. It should not be inherited. Leadership is achieved through work, perseverance, and by demonstrating the ability to make decisions. These are the legitimate leaders. With the death of the leader of Cambio 90 and Fuerza Popular, of Fujimorism, there is a great responsibility on the heirs, not only on the family members, on the supporters and leaders of that party, so that they can – with this tragedy that they have suffered, a very important loss in their lives – recompose their forces and redirect their orientations, and achieve a great national reconciliation. They have had the opportunity, Keiko in particular, when in the government that elected Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, they had an overwhelming majority in Congress and, unfortunately, Keiko’s whim and arrogance did not know how to use that majority to finish the reforms that her father made with so much effort, and the issue of State reform was still missing. That is what we have to focus on, and hopefully there will be a great agreement to attack that “This is an urgent issue: the reform of the judiciary, the education system, and the entire administrative system of the State, from the executive branch onwards; that is what is needed.”
Patricia Juarez
(Congressman of Fuerza Popular)
“Our party has always adopted the legacy of President Alberto Fujimori with absolute responsibility. We believe from the Fuerza Popular bench that we have clear guidelines and that ultimately our path is the Constitution of 1993, which was a constitution that was the product of a Democratic Constituent Congress convened by President Fujimori and that changed the life of our country, from the point of view of an economic chapter that has sustained us during all these years and that has even been replicated by other countries in the region. The Constitution of 1993 has meant that we can live in peace, in democracy, that we can go to vote every five years and have the constitutional and democratic mechanisms, and the economic stability that our country enjoys. Of course, there are things that we have to correct from the point of view of how to govern or how to execute. I repeat, we assume the legacy of President Fujimori to govern with firmness, with integrity, with courage, knowing that at some point some decisions may be unpopular, but they are on the right path that requires our country.”
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