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LA PAZ, Bolivia – Keiko Fujimori, a powerful Peruvian politician whose father ran the country in the 1990s, was arrested on Wednesday as part of a money laundering investigation, questioning the future of the political family and its right-wing populist movement.
The arrest comes just days after the country's Supreme Court ordered his father, former President Alberto Fujimori, to return to jail on charges of violating human rights, overturning the presidential pardon for had released in December.
Ms. Fujimori was arrested at the Attorney General's office, where she was called to testify, said her lawyer, Giuliana Loza, who described the arrest as "arbitrary".
Prosecutors have sought to find out if Ms. Fujimori, the opposition leader, had accepted illegal contributions during the 2011 and 2016 presidential campaigns.
A hundred of his supporters gathered in court to protest his arrest.
Ms. Fujimori, considered a risk of absconding, will initially be detained for at least 10 days, while prosecutors are considering filing formal charges.
In a letter she posted on Twitter on Wednesday, she denounced her arrest as unfair. "The persecution is disguised in justice in our country," she wrote.
The arrest orders against Ms. Fujimori and her father mark a dramatic turning point for one of the most powerful families in Peru, who ruled Peru in the 1990s with a type of right-wing populism that she sought to re-establish in the country.
Ms. Fujimori's father was elected president in 1990 before suspending the country's constitution and governing as dictator. Sent to jail after being involved in the killing of at least 25 people during those years, Fujimori remained very popular among many Peruvians, his administration also being recognized for having improved the number of Peruvians. economy, invested in infrastructure and defeated the left. wing groups who engaged in a bloody conflict with the government.
Ms. Fujimori has become one of the most powerful politicians in Peru, leading the People's Force, which holds the largest share of Congress seats. Many analysts feared that his rise – which included an attempt to remove the former president of Peru, who eventually resigned – could cause lasting damage to the country's democratic institutions.
The recent detentions of Ms. Fujimori and her father have now led some people to believe that the opposite might be true.
"I think this is a major weak point for Fujimorismo," said Eduardo Dargent, a political scientist at the Catholic Pontifical University of Peru, referring to the political movement that bears the family name.
Ms. Fujimori has been the subject of corruption investigations in recent years, including investigations into her campaign financing, money laundering and related matters. to his links with the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, who admitted to having paid hundreds of millions of dollars bribes for construction projects in Latin America.
Public anger returned to both Ms. Fujimori and the investigators in July, when cassettes in which justice officials were able to be heard and which included unofficial meetings with a "Señora K" were been disclosed to the press. Critics said her nickname was referring to Ms. Fujimori and that the officials were seeking to enter into a wrongful agreement with her. The scandal that followed led to the dismissal and resignation of many senior officials of the judiciary.
Political scientist Dr. Dargent said prosecutors were under increasing pressure to show that they were not under any political influence – a possible motivation for Wednesday's arrest.
There have been other signs of weakness in Ms. Fujimori's party and within the family in recent months. In Sunday's local elections, voters closed the party at most of the mayor's offices.
Ms. Fujimori is separated from her brother, Kenji Fujimori, a former congressman, following an attempted dismissal against former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who has forgiven their father in an attempt to avoid being ousted from office.
Ms. Fujimori launched a second impeachment action against Mr. Kuczynski in March, which resulted in his resignation and further removal from his brother, who had supported the former president. Their Popular Force party has since been divided.
