Fujimori’s death forces his daughter Keiko to change her strategy for Peru’s 2026 elections

He wrote it on July 14. They were convinced, or so they seemed, that he would overcome the cancer he was suffering from. “My father and I have talked and decided together that he will be the presidential candidate,” read the message from Keiko Fujimori in your X account.

Now his party, People’s Forceand the daughter of Alberto Fujimori They will have to chart another route to try regain power in the elections legislative and presidential elections in Peru scheduled for April 2026. Various Peruvian political analysts assured that the true intention era who headed the list for the Senate in order to regain the majority in the legislature and promote Keiko’s everlasting aspiration to become Head of State.

They calculated that, given the fragmentation of the political spectrum and the weakness of all political parties, his figure would help achieve 20% of the votes in the first round, enough to move on to the second and final round.

“I am in a local clinic, recovering from a fall (…) Today I reaffirm my decision and willingness to assume all risks. I want to return to work for all Peruvians,” was the response, written in his own handwriting, that he sent to the newspaper. Lima Trade when asked about his presidential aspirations.

His political intentions contrasted with his lamentable state of health.. She had broken her hip while undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy for a malignant tumor on her tongue that “was not operable due to its size and location,” according to her oncologist, Juan Carlos Gutiérrez. They later discovered that the cancer had spread to her lung.

Nevertheless, a medical board, “at the insistence of the patient himself, who wanted to continue fighting, opted for an immunological treatment.” But in recent days he suffered respiratory complications that led to his death.

Until his death, critics of the controversial former president did not believe he was on the verge of death. That is why they refused to release him from prison, on humanitarian grounds, in December of last year. They argued that Fujimori was faking the seriousness of his illness since he had begun to broadcast a series of podcasts and had a TikTok account to claim his legacy.

The former president never apologized to his victims, nor accepted his crimes, and now the justice system in his country must close all pending legal proceedings, such as the one involving forced sterilizations that allegedly caused severe damage and deaths to dozens of women.

“Fujimori’s death does not heal woundshe keeps them open knowing that he will never be punished for what he did or for the crimes he allowed and encouraged to be carried out,” the Peruvian newspaper said on Thursday. The Republic.

“This closes the life cycle of one of the presidents who left the greatest impact on the history of Peru,” read the newspaper’s editorial. Lima Trade. “Let us not forget that it was anti-Fujimorism – which emerged as an opposition to his figure and to prevent his daughter Keiko from coming to power – which in large part ended up defining the result of the last three presidential elections and which allowed politicians as dissimilar to each other to reach the Presidency as Ollanta Humala, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski y “Peter Castillo”.

The government of leftist Dina Boluarte declared three days of official mourning, as well as the funeral honors that correspond to all former presidents. Also, from the official X account of the Presidency, it sent “heartfelt condolences to the family, whom we accompany in their profound pain. May God have him in his glory and may he rest in peace.”

Gisela Ortiz, for her part, a relative of one of the students killed in the La Cantuta casecriticized those words through the same social network: “Official messages of regret when there is impunity for their crimes.”

Fujimori’s mortal remains will be on display at the National Museum of Lima until Saturday and will be buried in the Campo Fe cemetery. “We look forward to seeing everyone who wants to say goodbye to him personally. We appreciate your support and great displays of solidarity in these painful times,” said his daughter Keiko.

The paradox is that Alberto Fujimori died on the same day – September 11 – and at the same age – 86 years – as his arch-enemy. Abimael Guzmanleader of Shining Pathwho died in 2021.

A stormy relationship

“The relationship between father and daughter has always been very stormy,” Clara Inés Ospina, director of Epicentro TV, told EL MUNDO from Lima. She recalls that Alberto Fujimori fled to Japan in 2000 after being accused of crimes and corruption. “He abandoned his daughter Keiko, who was serving as First Lady. She could have been put in prison for his crimes.”

But she overcame the coup and forged her own political career. “She was at odds with her father both because of family resentments and political calculations. In 2016 came the peak year. She lost the presidency by less than a point against Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (PKK) and won 73 of 130 congressmen. He said: ‘We will execute our government plan from Congress’,” Ospina recalls.

He obstructed Kuczynski and, “above all, prevented his father from being released.” The Fujimorist steamroller sank the government’s bill to release prisoners over 80 with serious illnesses.

Kenji Fujimorithen a senator, “who adored his father, negotiated the pardon with PKK, which was on the ropes. If you give it to him, I’ll save you, he came to propose it to him,” notes Ospina. He divided Fuerza Popular, voted against the vacancy of the president and pardoned Fujimori.

“Keiko storms out, they get the evidence of this illegal negotiation, they expose it to the country and provoke another motion of impeachment.” The result: PKK fell, Fujimori went back to jail and Kenji was dismissed.

“In Peru, Keiko was seen as a cursed daughter,” Ospina suggests. In 2021, she turned her campaign around. She posed as a good daughter and promised to pardon her father if she won. She lost, but the Constitutional Court, with a Fujimorist majority, ruled that the pardon was legal. The father was released and went to live at Keiko’s house.

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