Keiko Fujimori, the eldest daughter of late conservative President Alberto Fujimori, was inaugurated as president of Peru on Tuesday for a five-year term until 2031.
Fujimori, who served as first lady of Peru during her father’s rule, became the tenth president Peru has had over the past decade. Peru has experienced a convoluted period of political instability that has seen no president successfully conclude their full five-year term since 2016.
The new conservative president of Peru was elected in June following a slow vote count that marked her fourth and finally successful presidential race. Fujimori narrowly lost Peru’s three previous presidential elections in 2021, 2016, and 2011.
Her victory also marked the latest in a years-long streak of conservative presidential victories across Latin America. Fujimori reportedly expressed her intention this month to collaborate with the United States’ fight against international organized crime, joining the Shield of the Americas regional counter-cartel security coalition.
Tuesday’s inauguration ceremony coincided with both the 205th anniversary of Peru’s July 28, 1821, Independence Day and the 36th anniversary of Alberto Fujimori’s inauguration in 1990. It also marked what would have been Alberto Fujimori’s 88th birthday. The elder Fujimori died in 2024.
As part of Peru’s tradition, the inauguration proceedings began with a Mass at the Lima Cathedral. Moments later, Fujimori visited the Peruvian Congress for the swearing-in ceremony.
A U.S. delegation led by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau represented President Donald Trump and Secretary Marco Rubio at the inauguration. Deputy State Sec. Landau shared a photo of a meeting between President Alberto Fujimori and Landau’s father, late U.S. diplomat George Walter Landau.
Several regional heads of state accompanied Fujimori at her inauguration, including Argentina’s Javier Milei, Chile’s José Antonio Kast, Paraguay’s Santiago Peña, Panama’s José Raul Mulino, and Colombia’s Vice President-elect José Manuel Restrepo. Spanish King Felipe VI also participated in the ceremony. Fujimori held meetings with Milei and other heads of state throughout Tuesday.
Radio Programas del Perú (RPP) reported that after being inaugurated, President Fujimori delivered her first speech before the Peruvian Congress marking the nation’s Independence Day. Congressmen from the leftist Together for Peru coalition, whose candidate Roberto Sánchez lost against Fujimori, were not present in Congress for Fujimori’s speech.
Fujimori began by stressing that she will assume the presidency of Peru for the next five years and “not a day more.” The new conservative president explained that her administration is inheriting an “adrift” Peru due to the last years of political instability, corruption, and overall deterioration of basic services across the country.
Fujimori emphasized that she had not arrived to offer “unmediated miracles nor empty promises,” vowing that her main goal will be to overturn the social deficit affecting millions of Peruvians and regain economic growth.
“I have come to offer a method, discipline, hard work, and a clear path forward. From this moment on, the clock is ticking and cannot be stopped,” Fujimori reportedly said.
“We have exactly 1,826 days in office ahead of us. 1,826 days during which every ministry, every region, and every public official will have to work intensely, with measurable goals and constant accountability,” she continued.
According to Infobae, President Fujimori reiterated that, in the short-term, her administration will focus on two national emergencies: addressing the effects of the impending El Niño recurring weather phenomenon, and Peru’s rampant insecurity. To prepare for the effects of El Niño, Fujimori detailed that her administration will “break the logic of delayed response” and bureaucracy and evaluate several actions such as large-scale river dredging and the construction of river defenses to better prepare the nation.
Fujimori concluded her speech by calling upon national unity and to work as a single team for the betterment of Peru — emphasizing that “hunger, disease, and delinquency have no political color.”
“There are not two different Perus, there is only one Peru — vibrant, multicultural, strong, and with a history stretching back thousands of years — that is ready to rise to the occasion,” she reportedly said.
“I assume the helm with the resolve needed to govern, but also with the sensitivity required to listen and heal the wounds of our people,” she continued. “The clock has started ticking. The 1,826 days of work toward the greatness of our homeland begin right now.”
As part of Peru’s yearly Independence Day celebrations, the South American nation marks July 29 as the “Day of the Grand Parade and Civic-Military Parade.”
On Wednesday morning, the Peruvian Armed Forces recognized President Fujimori as their commander-in-chief prior to the July 29 military parade commemorating Peru’s 205th year of independence.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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