planet earth looks blue

The worldwide sweep of holding former and present heads of state culpable for human rights abuses continues. First, six were charged for war crimes for their involvement in the Bosnian War, then a warrant was put out for al-Bashir, the President of the Sudan, by the international courts, next the court at Madrid goes after former Bush officials, and now Fujimori. The former President of Peru (1990-2000) is sentenced to 25 years for the execution-style slaughter of the communist opposition, in particular, two massacres that killed 25 people. Fujimori defeated the brutal Shining Path guerrillas during his term, and for a time he was considered a savior by the people. Approximately 70,000 people died during 20 years of fighting in Peru. Fujimori’s term ended because of a corruption scandal in 2000. He then went to Japan, and later Chile, were he was arrested and returned to Peru. Still today, a significant chunk of the population supports Fujimori. His daughter, Keiko, is in fact running in Peru’s next election, as the conservative candidate, against Ollanta Humala, representing the liberal left. Now that Fujimori’s charges went through, the current leader of Peru, Alan Garcia, could face charges of human rights abuses as well.