The return of Peru’s Japanese political dynasty

Deep political divisions and a shockingly narrow divide came to a head in Peru’s recent presidential election, and while it’s still mired in a messy ballot counting process, Keiko Fujimori is looking more and more like the country’s next leader, with some outlets already calling the race for her. Hailing from a Peruvian political family of Japanese descent that ruled the country with an iron grip during the 1990s and has continued to be a major political force ever since, Keiko Fujimori’s likely victory is the culmination of her two-decade struggle for power. But it also marks the triumphant return of her family after the deeply divisive rule of her father, which some say was a time of strength and stability in a troubled nation, while others call it a brutal dictatorship marked by a coup, violence and forced sterilization. This is the return of Peru’s Japanese political dynasty. —