Thousands of Peruvians took to the streets on Monday to protest the pardon granted to former President Alberto Fujimori, with many calling it part of a backroom deal struck to protect the current president from impeachment on corruption charges. The Sunday pardon came three days after abstentions by lawmakers from a party led by Fujimori's children caused the failure of a vote to impeach President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. Fujimori, 79, was serving a 25-year sentence for the killings of 25 people in a campaign against the leftist Shining Path guerrilla group. With Kuczynski under criminal investigation for his Odebrecht ties and weighed down by an 18% approval rating, observers said his long-term political survival still appears to be in jeopardy. Alberto Fujimori, president from 1990 to 2000, is remembered for stabilizing the economy and defeating the Shining Path, and for human rights violations and corruption.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 26, 2017 04:00 UTC