num_pages: 184
description: Have you ever wondered about the man who brought Peru back from the brink of political economic and social chaos? This book is the first English biography of this controversial and very secretive man, President Alberto Fujimori of Peru. The year is 1936 and a young couple, Naoichi and Mutsue Fujimori stepped out of the "Bokuyo Maru" to begin a new life in Peru. Little did they dream that together, they would produce a son, Alberto, who would one day become president. Against all odds, Alberto Fujimori has risen from the minority Japanese immigrant community and the working class of Peru to give the Peruvian masses new aspirations and hope for a future they never had before. This book looks at his early life of hardship and the phenomenal academic and political success of Peru's most controversial and unique president, a man who holds visionary goals for Peru, whatever the cost. Sacrificing popularity and the approval of the international community to do what he felt he had to do, he has enacted harsh laws designed to flush out of Peru the terrorism which controlled 40% of his country and terrorized his people with bloodshed and violence for over 12 years. He has lived up to his words that "I rule for National interest and not for popularity" and "I am not a suit and tie president" as he continues to work alongside the poor and the forgotten in their shanty towns and remote villages. He is at home with them for he is one of them. Alberto's own working class immigrant background is a guarantee that he understands the Peruvian masses, their needs and their aspirations and that he will never leave them as they were left by years of conservative elite rule in Peru. By sheer determination, hard work and a strength of character that belies his mild, scholarly appearance, Alberto Fujimori has successfully rid his country of a scourge of terrorism so bad that Peruvians could not walk in the streets without fear. He has also turned around his country's crippled economy and today, Peru has been reinstated in the international financial community. The president had every reason to be proud when in 1997, Peru was admitted as a member of APEC. It was an event that he could only dream of in 1990 when he took over the presidency. Alberto Fujimori has confounded many who do not know what to make of him. He is unique, the son of poor Japanese immigrants and a community which forms only 1% of a country of 22 million people. How, they ask, did he become the president of Peru? And having done that, how did he bring violent terrorists with a mission to kill, to their knees? How, too, did he revive a country's ravaged economy to its present healthy growth? Alberto Fujimori has been called the "Fujimori enigma," the Fujimori phenomenon," the "man from nowhere," by baffled analysts. But really, how did one man from nowhere wrench Peru back from its political, social and economic impoverishment and put it back on its feet? This is the compelling story of Alberto Fujimori. He is a special person, a Latin American leader and the son of Japanese immigrants, the link between two cultures. From the blood of that link flowing in his veins, he has reaped the best and created the "Peruvian miracle." Because of him, millions of forgotten people in Peru have a future again. What was a dream for President Alberto Fujimori when he became president of politically, socially and economically ravaged Peru in 1990 has become a reality. He is indeed "The President Who Dared to Dream."
language: English
title: Alberto Fujimori of Peru: The President Who Dared to Dream
titlecomplete: Alberto Fujimori of Peru: The President Who Dared to Dream
ratings_count: 14
publisher: Beekman Books Inc