Outcast at His Own Inauguration

Two months ago, in an election marred by fraud, abuse and intimidation, President Alberto Fujimori engineered for himself a third term in office. With the assistance of the state’s intelligence and security apparatus the incumbent had manipulated the electoral process in such a way that his opponent, Alejandro Toledo, was left with no choice but to drop out.

Next week, at his inauguration, Fujimori will feel the hand of repudiation. The presidents of the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala and Venezuela will not be in Lima for the ceremony. No president in the hemisphere, with the exceptions of Ecuador’s Gustavo Noboa and Bolivia’s Hugo Banzer, will offer legitimacy to Fujimori’s spurious regime. Instead, such eminent Latin American leaders as former Presidents Raul Alfonsin of Argentina and Oscar Arias of Costa Rica have announced their intention to demonstrate their distaste for Fujimori’s authoritarian rule by marching in the streets of the Peruvian capital.

Snubbing Fujimori at his inauguration is not enough. The president, 61, is a stubborn character who believes that the rejection of his regime will be temporary and soon it will be politics as usual in Latin America. This is a good time to let Fujimori know that the United States and the other countries of the Western Hemisphere will not accept his regime until he adopts recommendations formulated by the Organization of American States to draw Peru back to the path of democracy.