Peru’s ex-president Fujimori breaks hip in fall

4 months ago 9

Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, 85, is in intensive care after breaking his hip in a fall at home, his daughter Keiko said Wednesday.

He is due to undergo surgery in the next few days, she wrote on X.

Fujimori was released from prison in December after serving 16 years for crimes against humanity.

Last month he announced he has been diagnosed with a malignant tumor on his tongue.

His daughter said he is weak from treatment for that cancer and other illnesses.

President from 1990 to 2000, Fujimori has been in poor health and was freed for humanitarian reasons after serving only part of his 25-year sentence.

He was sent to prison in 2009 over massacres committed by army death squads in 1991 and 1992 in which 25 people, including a child, were killed in supposed anti-terrorist operations.

Fujimori, who is of Japanese heritage, divided Peruvians like few other leaders of the Andean country of 32 million people.

To some, he is remembered for bolstering economic growth through his neo-liberal economic policies, while crushing left-wing insurgencies, including the Shining Path rebels.

Others recall his ruthless, authoritarian governing style.