Alberto Fujimori

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Japanese-Peruvian politician, who became President of Peru in 1990. On 11/22/2000, he was declared morally unfit for office and was dismissed by Congress. Parliament would not even accept his resignation. As a result, Fujimori withdrew to his ancestral Japan where he plans to stay for some time. Fujimori was born in Lima, Peru, the son of a Japanese immigrant; his parents were agricultural field hands. He is a Roman Catholic. In 1961, he earned his degree in agronomic engineering at Agrarian National University of "La Molina," in Lima, graduating at the top of his class. He did his postgraduate work at the University of Strasbourg, France, as well as at the University of Wisconsin where he earned his Masters in mathematics. Prior to entering the political arena, he held various teaching and administrative positions, and was Principal at Agrarian National University from 1984-89. He hosted a television talk show called "Getting Together," and despite being a political outsider, he gained a reputation as a skillful political analyst. In 1989, he founded the "Cambio 90" political party, and with a simple slogan of "honesty, technology and work," he launched a successful grass-roots campaign for the presidency. His dictatorial style quickly changed Peru, as he instituted reforms to retain a free-market system, purged the government of those who might hinder him, set up new economic policies and armed the peasants against guerrillas. He was re-elected in a landslide victory on 4/09/1995. He sought a third term in 2000, under the reinterpreted guidelines of the Peruvian Constitution; despite the country’s growing dissatisfaction with his leadership, Fujimori prevailed over Alejandro Toledo, his major opponent, amid charges of unfair campaign practices. Fujimori and his wife Susana Higuchi have four children. On 5/24/2001, Peru's attorney general asked Congress to pursue homicide charges against the former president in a state-sponsored massacre in 1991. The Colina death squad has shot 15 people in a tenement, a terrorist action stated to be known by Fujimori. Link to Wikipedia biography