A cushy exile for a disgraced leader.

last updated 8 January 2015

Chile

Patricia Caycho

Disgraced Peruvian ex-President Alberto Fujimori is living the good life in Chile, said Patricia Caycho in Lima’s Caretas. Fujimori, who ruled during the 1990s, resigned in 2000 because of mounting corruption scandals involving the bribery of lawmakers. He took refuge in Japan, where he had citizenship thanks to his Japanese-born parents. A few years later, Peruvian authorities indicted him on charges of human-rights abuses—including the forced sterilization of up to 200,000 indigenous Peruvians—during his campaign against the Shining Path rebels. Finally this year, he was caught in Chile, where he is appealing his extradition to Peru. Fujimori is supposed to be under “restricted freedom,” but “it looks more like he’s on a pleasant sabbatical.” When he isn’t sport fishing offshore, he is often found “strolling along the beaches.” He and his wife, who once ran “one of Tokyo’s most exclusive country clubs,” are “a fixture” at Santiago’s premier golf course and are welcomed as regulars at the top restaurants. Fujimori is sure to draw out his extradition appeal for as long as Chile will allow. After all, “this is a man who possesses the patience of the Orient.”