Congress, dominated by Fujimori's opponents, immediately declared him "morally unfit" and named Valentín Paniagua, head of the legislature, as the interim president until new elections take place in April of next year.

Paniagua, a 64-year-old lawyer, was appointed after the country's two vice presidents jumped off Fujimori's sinking boat and resigned. Paniagua served as a minister in both administrations of President Fernando Belaúnde, in the 1960s and later in the early 1980s. His party, Popular Action (AP), received barely 1 percent of the vote in the April 9 presidential election.

In an effort to clean up the tarnished image of the government, Congress assigned a special prosecutor to investigate Fujimori and his right-hand man, Vladimiro Montesinos, the hated former secret police chief. The prosecutor has already filed a complaint against both men for illegal appropriation of funds of at least $58 million in the sale of two Panamanian companies they co-owned, a charge Fujimori has denied. Congress is also moving to set up a commission to investigate the disappearances of 4,000 people arrested during Fujimori's brutal "antiterrorist" campaign.

Fujimori, who ruled for a decade on behalf of big business through a combination of anti-elite demagogy and an iron fist, had begun to lose his popular appeal over the past year. In the April elections he ran for a third five-year term but failed to win a clear majority. His main rival, Alejandro Toledo of the "Peru Posible" opposition coalition, called the elections a fraud and boycotted the May runoff, allowing Fujimori to win it uncontested.  
 
An ignominious end
Fujimori's inauguration on July 28 was overshadowed by a protest of tens of thousands of angry demonstrators who poured into the streets of Lima, the capital. Toledo headed the demonstrations, calling for new elections. Some 40,000 cops were mobilized, firing tear gas and live bullets and leaving 100 people injured.

Fujimori's end was sealed September 14 when Montesinos was seen on a video, broadcast on national television, bribing a legislator to gain support for the president. After failing to obtain political asylum, Montesinos returned to Peru and reportedly went into hiding. Fujimori, trying to save his own skin, led a raid on Montesinos's house, where he had more than 50 cartons of goods confiscated, including 1,200 Christian Dior shirts, numerous gold and diamond watches, and other luxury items.

Meanwhile, an army lieutenant colonel, Ollanta Moisés Humala Tasso, launched a mutiny at the end of October in the southern copper mining town of Toquepala in the province of Tacna. At the head of a platoon of soldiers and civilian supporters, Humala Tasso, 36, held an army general hostage and demanded the resignation of Fujimori and prosecution of Montesinos. After two days they released their hostages and dispersed in the highlands, but in downtown Lima hundreds of youth demonstrated in support of the revolt.

As many of Fujimori's allies in Congress quit his coalition, he left for an Asia-Pacific summit meeting in Brunei, only to resign unexpectedly during what was supposed to be a stopover in Japan on his return.  
 
Fujimori regime: product of social crisis
A previously unknown agronomist and university professor, Fujimori came to power in 1990 on a platform of "honest government" and "saving the people" at a time of deep economic crisis, including hyperinflation of more than 7,000 percent. Playing on widespread insecurity and fear of the future among the middle classes and other layers of society, he posed as an outsider untarnished by the corruption of the traditional capitalist politicians. He presented the image of a savior standing above classes who could "solve things" by drastic measures, even at the cost of curtailing democratic rights. This kind of regime, to which the capitalist rulers sometimes resort to restore stability in times of acute social crisis and political impasse, is historically known as Bonapartist.

Fujimori initially won support by claiming responsibility for bringing down inflation and dealing crippling blows to the Stalinist antigovernment guerrillas of Shining Path. In 1992 he gained further popular backing when he staged a "self-coup" by suspending the constitution and dissolving Congress on grounds that it was ineffective in dealing with the guerrilla insurgency and corruption.

As soon as he was inaugurated, the president decreed brutal austerity measures, meeting the International Monetary Fund's demands by eliminating government subsidies and lifting price controls, among other "Fujishock" measures. His regime went on to sell state-owned enterprises to capitalist investors, throwing thousands of workers out of work.

Today, more than half of Peru's population of 27 million live below the official poverty line. Last year the combined rate of unemployment and underemployment stood at 50 percent.

In the name of fighting terrorism, the regime gave expanded powers to the military and arrested thousands of working people and political activists, convicting them of terrorism charges in kangaroo courts with "faceless judges." Montesinos, who had longstanding ties to the CIA, oversaw this campaign of repression.

In April 1997, Fujimori ordered the storming of the Japanese ambassador's residence, killing all 14 guerrillas of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement who had been holding hostages for four months. The Clinton administration and other capitalist governments praised Fujimori's atrocity as a blow against "terrorism."

Washington also applauded the Fujimori regime's economic measures, and foreign investment began to pour in, as capitalists bought up former state-owned companies for a song.

Nonetheless, over the years Fujimori's demagogy wore thin with the irresolvable economic crisis, as working people began to recover from the retreat of the early 1990s. Protests began to mount.

In September, about 100,000 truckers joined public transportation workers in a nationwide strike demanding a freeze on gasoline prices and a cut in oil taxes. The truckers blocked several highways connecting the provinces, cutting off supplies to refineries and gas stations. "The prices of oil go up every time the government needs cash. A lot of taxes are paid on oil, an important input for the transportation sector," said Joaquín Ormeño, president of the Truckers Federation of Peru (CTP), who noted that fuel prices had increased 60-fold during Fujimori's regime.

In mid-October, 1 million farmers went on a 48-hour nationwide strike, staging public meetings and marches, including in Lima. They demanded cheap credit, debt relief, and other measures to compensate for the high prices of fertilizer and pesticides. Farmers blocked the Panamerican highway at different points in the southern provinces of Ica, Arequipa, Moquegua, and Tacna as well as to the northeast on the road to Ecuador.

This renewed labor and peasant resistance will be confronting the new regime in Lima. Working people are likely to sense the weakness of the government and gain confidence in fighting for their demands.
 
 
Related articles:
Workers' resistance on the rise  
 
 
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