The Fujimori Legacy: The Rise of Electoral Authoritarianism in Peru

Appendix: Peru, 1990–2000: A Basic Chronology

APPENDIX: PERU, 1990–2000: A BASIC CHRONOLOGY 1990 April 8 General elections are held. No candidate wins a majority of the vote and therefore a runoff election becomes necessary between the two top vote getters, the world-famous novelist Mario Vargas Llosa and the relatively unknown Alberto Fujimori. June 10 Alberto Fujimori wins the runoff election with 62 percent of the vote. July 28 Alberto Fujimori is sworn in as president. August 8 Juan Carlos Hurtado Miller, minister of economy and finance as well as the president of the Council of Ministers, announces a dramatic plan for economic restructuring. The inflation rate will reach 7,650 percent by the end of the year, but falls dramatically in subsequent years. 1991 February 15 Carlos Boloña is appointed minister of economy and finance. August 14 The Fondo Nacional de Compensación y Desarrollo Social (Compensation and Social Development Fund [foncodes]) is created. This fund would later play a significant role in Fujimori ’s efforts to buy political support among the poor. October 2 Congress votes to indict former president Alan Garcı́a Pérez on corruption charges. November 3 An army death squad known as Grupo Colina (Colina Group) kills fifteen people in the Barrios Altos neighborhood in Lima. 1992 April 5 Fujimori announces the dissolution of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Tribunal of Constitutional Guarantees and suspends the 1979 constitution. July 18 Grupo Colina strikes again. This time the victims are nine students and one faculty member from the Universidad Nacional de Educación, Enrique Guzmán y Valle, most commonly known as La Cantuta university. July 21 By decree (Decreto Ley No. 25635), the Fujimori regime creates the Sistema de Inteligencia Nacional (National Intelligence System [sin]). According to this decree, the sin’s budget and its supporting documents are classified as ‘‘secret.’’ Fujimori’s appendix 342 right-hand man, Vladimiro Montesinos, although formally an ‘‘advisor,’’ becomes the real head of the newly created sin. September 12 Abimael Guzmán Reynoso, leader of the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso), is captured. In subsequent days, the police will also capture other prominent leaders of this guerrilla group. November 13 General Jaime Salinas Sedó leads a failed coup attempt to depose Fujimori and arguably return the country to the 1979 constitution . November 22 Elections for the Congreso Constituyente Democrático (Constitutional Democratic Congress [ccd]) are held. The pro-Fujimori alliance wins forty-four out of eighty seats in the new congress. 1993 January 29 Ricardo Belmont, an independent candidate, wins reelection as Lima’s mayor with 45 percent of the vote. With the exception of Tacna’s, no candidate of Fujimori’s electoral vehicle Cambio 90 is successful in winning a single provincial mayoralty. October 31 The referendum to ratify a new constitution is held. Amid accusations of vote irregularities and fraud, the yes vote wins with only 52 percent of the vote. December 30 Fujimori enacts Legislative Decree No. 776. The decree strips municipalities of their authority to collect certain taxes. Mayors complain that municipal revenues will be reduced by 79 percent. 1994 February 28 The state-owned phone and telecommunications company (entel/cpt) is sold to Telefónica of Spain for approximately US$1.4 billion. 1995 January 9 Border clashes between Peruvian and Ecuadorian troops in Cenepa River are reported. The conflict will escalate in subsequent days to include air clashes. A cease-fire accord is signed on February 17 in Brazil. April 9 President Fujimori secures reelection with 64 percent of the vote. June 14 Congress approves a blanket amnesty law (Ley de Amnistı́a General no. 26479) for military personnel accused of human rights violations. The amnesty also includes those who were involved in the November 13, 1992, coup attempt against Fujimori . November 12 Alberto Andrade, founder of the recently created independent movement Somos Lima, is elected mayor of Lima with 52 percent of the vote. appendix 343 1996 April 18 Law 26592 is enacted. According to the new legislation—which modifies a 1994 law—referendum initiatives require the approval of at least forty-eight members of the unicameral congress. No such proviso existed in the original law. The new requirement seeks to defeat a citizen initiative that calls for a referendum to rule on Fujimori’s ability to run for reelection in 2000. August 23 Congress passes the so-called Ley de Interpretación Auténtica de la Constitucio...