Andean Group - February 2008 (ISSN 1741-4466)

Alberto Fujimori's daughter, Keiko, is trumpeting her intention to launch a new party - "Fuerza 2011" - to fuse the different factions within Fujimorismo. Keiko, 32, was elected to congress to represent Lima with more votes than any other candidate in 2006. She says she wants to keep the flames of Fujimorismo alive in the face of a vicious media campaign designed to discredit her father. She will have her work cut out for her. Fujimorismo as a political force is on the wane and Fujimori's name does not need the media to blacken it. Evidence being heard in court now suggests that he was fully aware of the activities of the Grupo Colina death squad, which carried out the infamous Barrios Altos and La Cantuta massacres (in 1991 and 1992, respectively).

"Fuerza 2011" would bring together the Alianza por el Futuro - which currently has 13 seats in the 120-seat legislative assembly - Cambio 90, and Nueva Mayorí­a. It would serve as a platform for a presidential candidate in 2011 as well as offering political support for Fujimori. The idea has not met with universal approval: congressman Andrés Reggiardo, a representative of Cambio 90, was one of the most outspoken critics of the proposal, but even Fujimori's brother, Santiago, was critical. Santiago said that, while well-meaning, Keiko's initiative was "inappropriate" in the short-term and could even be interpreted as "irrational". He said that it might make more sense in the medium to long-term. His claim that Fujimorismo as a combined force would command 25% to 30% of electoral support appears more than a little exaggerated.

Keiko said that Fuerza 2011 aimed to collect one million signatures over the course of the year in order to register with the national electoral council and demonstrate that the people do not agree with the "lynching" of her father. This would be a symbolic figure, as only 140,000 signatures are required to register a party in Peru. Keiko rejected criticism that she had chosen to collect huge support for the party in order to apply pressure on the judiciary, adding that her intention was purely to be prepared for the next elections. However, even by Latin American standards, three years is a long preparation time. Furthermore, Keiko's assertion was undermined by her brother Kenyi, who urged supporters to sign up "for El Chino's liberty". The media condemned the initiative outright. Mirko Lauer, a columnist for the national daily La República, was particularly critical. "Are they not thinking of running a candidate in Japan?" he asked rhetorically in a sardonic reference to Fujimori's eleventh-hour efforts to compete in the Japanese senatorial elections when he appeared to be losing his case to avoid extradition from Chile.

Keiko for president?

Keiko did not rule out running for president herself in 2011, although she made it clear that she is still very young and that her father is the natural leader. However, he has already received a sentence that will keep him locked up until 2013 and further convictions are pending. He is currently on trial over his alleged responsibility for the La Cantuta and Barrios Altos massacres, in which 25 people were killed. This could result in a much longer sentence: up to 30 years in prison.

In late January Pedro Supo, a former leader of the Grupo Colina death squad, claimed that the Fujimori administration negotiated an amnesty for Colina members in exchange for keeping the government's involvement in the La Cantuta and Barrios Altos massacres secret. Fujimori's defence counsel maintains that Colina acted on its own initiative and that the army had no orders to murder suspected insurgents, having been instructed to hand them over to the justice system.

• Grupo Colina

Although several members of the Grupo Colina death squad were convicted by a military tribunal in February 1994, President Fujimori's ruling coalition in parliament approved an amnesty law in June 1995 under which they were released from prison. Pedro Supo, former leader of the group, claims that the officers were paid US$100,000 and the non-commissioned officers US$50,000 to keep their silence over the La Cantuta and Barrios Altos massacres.