Peru’s former President Alberto Fujimori, who was convicted of human rights abuses and corruption, has died aged 86, his daughter has confirmed.
Fujimori governed Peru between 1990 and 2000 before being forced from office amid allegations of corruption.
His tough stance against a left-wing guerrilla insurgency while president also brought allegations of human rights abuses.
But his supporters praise him for defeating the rebels at a time when they looked likely to seize power.
Sources close to his family told AFP earlier Wednesday that his health had deteriorated rapidly after completing treatment for mouth cancer in August.
Just a month earlier his daughter Keiko had announced that the rightwinger would run for president again in 2026.
Fujimori, who was of Japanese heritage, was sent to prison in 2009 over massacres committed by army death squads in 1991 and 1992 in which 25 people, including a child, were killed in supposed anti-terrorist operations.
Last December Fujimori was released from Lima’s Barbadillo prison having served more than 15 years of a 25-year prison sentence.
Supporters of Fujimori began gathering outside his house as soon as his daughter posted the announcement of his death.
“After a long battle with cancer, our father, Alberto Fujimori, has just departed to meet the Lord,” his children Keiko, Hiro, Sachie and Kenji said in a joint statement.
“We ask those who loved him to join us in praying for the eternal rest of his soul.
Thank you for so much, Dad!”
Fujimori’s doctor Jose Carlos Gutierrez said the former president had been diagnosed with tongue cancer earlier this year and had died “of complications from the illness”.
“The immunological treatment is very good but it has side effects,” Dr Gutierrez said.
“As a result of these side effects, he [Fujimori] had breathing problems two days ago. He started with shortness of breath, we administered oxygen. The shortness of breath got worse, he started to bloat.
“Finally, yesterday night, he was unconscious. And finally, today engineer Fujimori died around 18:00 [23:00 GMT].”
