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Pope Francis to visit Peru as Fujimori pardon roils country
Source: Reuters
#WORLD NEWS JANUARY 12, 2018 / 11:36 AM / UPDATED 28 MINUTES AGO
Pope Francis to visit Peru as Fujimori pardon roils country
Mitra Taj, Philip Pullella
5 MIN READ
LIMA/VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis next week visits Peru, a country divided over former autocrat leader Alberto Fujimori, whose pardon from prison by the current president has reopened wounds from one of the country’s darkest periods.
Peruvians will watch closely to see if the Argentine pope signals any concern over the pardon after he arrives on Thursday from Chile on the second leg of a South America trip, where corruption and the plight of indigenous people will likely come up.
President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker, last month narrowly survived an impeachment bid over a graft scandal with the help of Fujimori’s loyalists in Congress, and pardoned Fujimori three days later.
Fujimori, 79, had served less than half of a 25-year sentence for corruption and human rights crimes for commanding death squads to combat a Maoist-inspired insurgency during his 1990-2000 right-wing populist government.
Opponents of both Fujimori and Kuczynski will be seeking a papal condemnation, even if only in general terms, of human rights abuses and corruption.
-snip-
Pope Francis to visit Peru as Fujimori pardon roils country
Mitra Taj, Philip Pullella
5 MIN READ
LIMA/VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis next week visits Peru, a country divided over former autocrat leader Alberto Fujimori, whose pardon from prison by the current president has reopened wounds from one of the country’s darkest periods.
Peruvians will watch closely to see if the Argentine pope signals any concern over the pardon after he arrives on Thursday from Chile on the second leg of a South America trip, where corruption and the plight of indigenous people will likely come up.
President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker, last month narrowly survived an impeachment bid over a graft scandal with the help of Fujimori’s loyalists in Congress, and pardoned Fujimori three days later.
Fujimori, 79, had served less than half of a 25-year sentence for corruption and human rights crimes for commanding death squads to combat a Maoist-inspired insurgency during his 1990-2000 right-wing populist government.
Opponents of both Fujimori and Kuczynski will be seeking a papal condemnation, even if only in general terms, of human rights abuses and corruption.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-peru/pope-francis-to-visit-peru-as-fujimori-pardon-roils-country-idUSKBN1F122J
