Nov 21 2000, Unknown Newspaper. Source: Associate Press
Summary
Fujimori
Fujimori officially steps down as leader of Peru
LIMA — Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, who brought leftist insurgencies and economic chaos to heel but ran roughshod over Peruvian democracy, cut short an unprecedented third term and resigned Monday.
The move set of an immediate scramble over who would replace him. But a Fujimori ally who was next in line for the post, second vice-president Ricardo Marquez, announced late Monday he was stepping down.
That move averted a political showdown with the opposition- controlled Congress and virtually guaranteed Congress President Valetin Paniagua, who follows Marquez in the constitutional line of succession, would become Peru’s next chief executive. Paniagua is political moderate who’s aligned with the opposition.
Fujimori, 62, formalized his resignation hour earlier with a letter sent from Japan, his ancestral homeland.
The bespectacled son of Japanese immigrants, Fujimori soared into office 10 years ago in a stunning election upset. But with his popularity eroded by a corruption scandal he was unable to control, Fujimori sent the resignation letter, acknowledging his “errors.” Fujimori’s resignation initially caught the country’s leadership off guard and angered allies who complained he should have stepped down at home.
”I submit to you, Mr. President of Congress, my formal resignation as president of the republic,” Fujimori wrote in the two-page letter.
The opposition wrested control of Congress away from Fujimori last week for the first time since his own 1992 “auto-coup,” in which he seized unprecedented powers. He closed an opposition-controlled Congress, drafted a new constitution and took on special powers he said were needed to battle Marxist insurgents.
In Japan, officials said Fujimori had not requested political asylum.
Rushing home from a European trip, Peru’s main opposition leader Alejandro Toledo credited common Peruvians with bringing down Fujimori’s authoritarian regime.
”Let’s build a government based on decent institutions, respect for democratic dignity. This is the dream of the Peruvian people,” he said.