Father's dark legacy threatens Fujimori's run for Peru presidency

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

World | Fri Mar 4, 2016 11:55am EST

Father's dark legacy threatens Fujimori's run for Peru presidency

HUANCAVELICA, PERU | BY MITRA TAJ

Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of Peru's imprisoned former president Alberto Fujimori, is the frontrunner in this year's election but her links to his authoritarian rule could derail her in a likely run-off vote.

Languishing in a prison on the outskirts of the capital Lima, the 77-year-old Alberto Fujimori remains a deeply divisive figure in the Andean nation.

He is revered by many for quashing a bloody guerrilla insurgency during his 1990-2000 presidency and turning around an economy in ruins, but is loathed by others for human rights abuses and corruption convictions.

Known in Peru simply as Keiko, his 40-year-old daughter is promising to battle rising crime and jump-start Peru's sluggish economy despite a global slump in commodity prices.

A center-rightist, she plans to use a nearly $8 billion government "rainy-day fund" to finance what she dubs a "shock" in infrastructure spending to spur growth, and offer tax breaks to companies training and hiring young workers.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-peru-election-fujimori-idUSKCN0W61VT

[Judi Lynn]

1. If only anything can help kick this tyrant-in-waiting to the curb.Hope Peru can give Keiko a "shock"

Peru has been working so hard to overcome its pestilence of rough riders in the President's office.

Time for a good change.

[Mufaddal]

2. Jesus Tapdancing Christ

Another Fujimori? Maybe we can get another Pinochet while we're at it.