Peru: Ex-Dictator Fujimori Undergoes Heart Surgery

On Monday, the 83-year-old former dictator Alberto Fujimori underwent a coronary bypass to remove an arterial occlusion.

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His daughter Keiko Fujimori said that his father's heart problems have worsened. Doctors found that "one of his arteries had a 70 percent blockage".

Last Friday, he was taken from Lima's Barbadillo prison to the Centenario Peruvian-Japanese clinic due to a sharp drop in his oxygen saturation.

"On Sunday, his health condition deteriorated. He had an uncontrollable tachycardia," said his family doctor, Alejandro Aguinaga. On Monday, he was transferred to the intensive care unit of the "El Golf" clinic to undergo "an invasive cardiac procedure".

Fujimori was extradited from Chile in 2007. Two years later, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison due to his involvement in the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta University massacres. These murders were committed in 1991 and 1992 by an undercover military group called ‘Colina’.

In the coming weeks, the Peruvian justice system will determine whether Fujimori will also be sentenced for the cases of forced sterilizations and the 'Pativilca massacre' (1992).

Since his imprisonment, Fujimori has been periodically transferred to clinics for various chronic ailments associated with his age. They include high blood pressure, a lumbar hernia, gastritis, paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, and leukoplakia.