Fujimori visits Japan amid rumors of seeking asylum
Fujimori visits Japan amid rumors of seeking asylum
TOKYO (AP): Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, fresh from a summit of Pacific-rim nations in the Southeast Asian nation of Brunei, flew to Tokyo on Friday, the Foreign Ministry said.
The Peruvian Embassy in Tokyo said Fujimori planned to meet with Japanese government officials to discuss loans for disbursement in the 2001 fiscal year. But Japanese Foreign Ministry official Hisashi Ueno said Fujimori was only changing planes.
Ueno refused to provide further details about the president's stay.
The visit came amid rumors that Fujimori -- who is rapidly losing political control at home and was criticized for leaving Peru to attend the Nov. 15-16 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit -- may be seeking asylum in Malaysia or some other Asian country.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday that the speculation was groundless. Fujimori aides also denied the rumor and the Foreign Ministry's Ueno said the Peruvian leader had not approached Japan with such a request.
Fujimori's son, Hiro, lives in Japan.
"No comment," Fujimori told reporters after stepping off a flight from Kuala Lumpur. Fujimori smiled but kept silent when asked whether he planned to remain in Tokyo. His parents were immigrants to Peru.
Fujimori spent the afternoon in a meeting with Hiroshi Yasuda, governor of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, but officials declined to give details of the content of the talks.
The meeting had been called at short notice by Peruvian officials, said a spokesman for the semigovernmental institution, which helps developing countries, handles overseas development aid -- including to Peru -- and promotes Japanese trade. The embassy said Fujimori's trip would be brief.
"I think the president will be attending the Latin-American meeting in Panama," said Peruvian Consul-General Sanchez Gomez as Fujimori arrived at his hotel in central Tokyo.
Summit
Latin American presidents have already begun gathering in Panama for a weekend summit that aims to target poverty affecting young people in the region.
Fujimori had said he might visit Japan to try to raise funds for Peru's battered economy.
A bribery scandal involving Fujimori's fugitive ex-spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, plunged Peru into political crisis two months ago, prompting the president to announce he would quit in July after elections in April, four years early.
Fujimori has said he will not run in the elections.
He suffered a new blow at home on Thursday when Peru's opposition took over the powerful presidency of Congress for the first time in eight years, further eroding his grip on power and opening the way for possible moves to oust him.
In Lima, political analysts said even if the opposition did not immediately try to oust Fujimori, the presidency of Congress would give them the means to push him out of office if Peru's political turmoil took a turn for the worse.
With imminent changes in the cabinet, there appeared no respite to the crisis, which was aggravated further when the government felt obliged to deny reports that Fujimori was seeking political asylum in Malaysia.
But it was unclear when Fujimori would return to Peru. Peru's political turmoil has centered on Montesinos, who fled to Panama after the scandal broke in September but defied Fujimori three weeks ago by returning to Peru and sparking a major manhunt led personally by the president.
The ex-spy chief is now wanted on a host of charges from money laundering to ordering torture and murder after some $58 million was found in overseas bank accounts linked to him.