Does Peru Need a Special Prison Just for Ex-Presidents?

As Peru prepares for the bicentennial of its independence from Spain in 1821, instead of looking forward with optimism, it is contemplating a dismal political landscape: Four of its former presidents are in jail or fugitives from justice for human rights crimes or corruption. A world record? Probably, but hardly one to celebrate.

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All four presidents have left their imprint on the country’s history and justice.

Oct. 29, 2013 – Lima, Peru – Peruvian former president (1990-2000), Alberto Fujimori listens the judge’s decision denying exchanging prison for house arrest. Fujimori will be serving a sentence of 25 years in prison for the crimes of homicide, serious injury and aggravated kidnapping of 25 people from Barrios Altos (1991) and La Cantuta (1992) neighborhoods. (Credit Image: © Paolo Aguilar/EFE/ZUMAPRESS.com)

First, Alberto Fujimori, Peru’s autocratic ruler from 1990 to 2000, was sentenced in 2009 to 25 years in jail for human rights violations in the fight against the Shining Path guerrillas and later convicted of embezzlement and corruption. He was recently joined in the Barbadillo Lima prison by Ollanta Humala, Mr. Kuczynski’s predecessor, after a judge ordered that he and his wife, Nadine Heredia, serve 18 months of pretrial detention while being investigated on money-laundering and conspiracy charges. Mr. Humala is also accused of extrajudicial killings during his time as an army captain at a remote jungle base in the 1990s.

July 14, 2017 – Lima, Lima, Peru – Former president of Peru Ollanta Humala (C) leaves the Palace of Justice guarded by police agents heading to the Virgen de Fatima penitentiary.(Credit Image: © Ernesto Arias/EFE via ZUMA Press)

Another former president, Alejandro Toledo, who served from 2001 to 2006 and brought democracy back after Mr. Fujimori, is fighting extradition to Peru, presumably from his home in Palo Alto, Calif., where he was once a visiting professor at Stanford University. Mr. Toledo is charged with taking $20 million in kickbacks from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, which is at the heart of the corruption scandal that is rocking Brazil.

Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo grants an interview to Efe at a hotel in Manhattan, New York, United States, 28 May 2017. Toledo claimed innocent on the corruption cases open against him and accused his rivals Keiko Fujimori and Alan Garcia of political conspiracy. (Credit Image: © Eduardo MuñOz Alvarez/EFE via ZUMA Press)

And last, in January a court in Rome sentenced Francisco Morales Bermúdez, Peru’s military dictator from 1975 to 1980, to life imprisonment for his role in the deaths of 23 people with Italian citizenship living in Latin America. They died during Operation Condor, a campaign of political terrorism carried out by right-wing dictatorships in South America with the technical and military assistance of the United States. Mr. Morales, who will not be imprisoned because of his age, is the only sentenced president who was not elected.

Francisco Morales Bermúdez

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The only living former head of state not incriminated so far is Alan Garcia, who served two terms, from 1985 to 1990 and from 2006 to 2011, and ironically has a legendary reputation for corruption that has haunted him for decades. But he is also under investigation for financial irregularities in the construction of the Lima Metro by, once again, Brazil’s Odebrecht conglomerate.

August 1, 2017 – Lima, Peru – Former Peruvian President Alan Garcia (C) addresses the media at his arrival at the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. Alan Garcia is being questioned by prosecutors in the investigation of the alleged corruption in the construction of Line 1 of the Lima Subway, linked with the scandal of the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. (Credit Image: © Ernesto Arias/EFE via ZUMA Press)

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Venality reached new depths in the 1990s under Mr. Fujimori, when the infamous head of the secret services, Vladimiro Montesinos, bribed politicians, bankers, entrepreneurs, judges, military officers and journalists. Videotaping all those caught in his web, he bequeathed a visual legacy of abuse of power and deceit taking place behind closed doors. Mr. Montesinos has since been jailed for life, but dishonesty persists. More than half of Peru’s regional governors are in jail or on trial today.

June 6, 2014 – Lima, Peru – Former Presidential advisor Vladimiro Montesinos (C) testified during a hearing in the trial for the illegal use of Peruvian Army Forces funds to buy the editorial line of newspapers in 2000 allegedly by Former Peruvian President, Alberto Fujimori, who already is sentenced to 25 years in prison for corruption and crimes against humanity. (Credit Image: © Ernesto Arias/EFE/ZUMAPRESS.com)

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