In this book, historian José Ragas tackles one of the most complex periods of Peru's recent history, the 1990s. Ragas shifts the focus on the decade's events away from its most pivotal figure, ex-President Alberto Fujimori, and argues that “Fujimorismo” developed as a unique mechanism that “utilized violence, repression, and the elimination of adversaries to stabilize the economy, introduce a radical market economy, and secure authoritarian control by the executive” (12). The book ambitiously narrates the Fujimori campaigns, self-coup, and political blunders through a series of vignettes that allow readers to view the 1990s through both a quotidian and an official lens.
Designing the book as a short narrative history, the author directs it to a general Peruvian audience. It is made up of nine chapters, which Ragas titles after famous phrases used throughout the decade. For example, the minister of economy was heard to say “Que Dios nos ayude” as he read the inflated prices of basic foodstuffs after the 1990 economic shock. The phrase is now ingrained in Peruvian social imagery. Even as Ragas appeals to the readers’ nostalgia, the book challenges the official history, or salvation memory, of the 1990s, which credits the Fujimori regime with defeating the guerrillas and saving the economy. The book relies on printed media sources and audiovisual materials, in addition to judicial testimonies and oral interviews.
In the first three chapters, Ragas covers the political rise of Fujimorismo, which secured the executive's control over the country. By contrast, Chapters 4 and 7 tackle the capital city as a battleground of the internal armed conflict. Fujimori reinforced his authoritarianism by implementing a war of low intensity and by taking credit for the capture of Shining Path leader Abimael Guzmán and the “successful” handling of the 1997 hostage crisis. Ragas contests this narrative, juxtaposing the Fujimori regime's deployment of the paramilitary group Grupo Colina, which clandestinely assassinated any opposition, to the independent intelligence work carried out by the Grupo Especial de Inteligencia, which tracked Guzmán and captured him without casualties.
Chapters 6 and 8 diverge from the chronological approach and make two significant contributions to the historiography. In Chapter 6, Ragas adopts a victim-centered approach focused on the family planning program and forced sterilizations undertaken during the Fujimori regime from 1996 to 2000. The chapter relies on testimonies from victims of the state's mass sterilization campaigns and sheds light on the coercive nature of the program, directed at Peru's indigenous communities, and on its repercussions, which continue to mobilize human rights groups today. Ragas's incorporation of the forced sterilization program in a book focused on the decade of Fujimori addresses the regime's desire to modernize and the means it was willing to take to achieve it.
In Chapter 8, Ragas weaves the popular mobilizations in cities like Arequipa into the narrative and connects an escalation of movements against the Fujimori regime since his 1995 re-election. This chapter reveals the increasing delegitimization of the regime across the country and challenges the alleged popular support touted by the Fujimoristas. This argument contributes to understanding Fujimorismo as fragile and desperate to eliminate burgeoning opposition. The chapter sets the scene for the downfall of the regime in Chapter 9, centered on the corruption tapes.
Ragas reconstructs the years of the Fujimori presidency not only through the experiences of political celebrities, but also through the experiences of common Peruvians. The book concludes with the story of a statue of Fujimori in the community of Pacaicasa, Ayacucho. Built as an attempt to bring the president to the war-ravaged region, a promise on which the president never delivered, the statue became a target of anti-regime protests. This anecdote decenters the decade, away from Fujimori and, most important, away from the capital. Yet, the author does not expand on its significance. The book never claims to be a complete history, and the author's narrative approach offers new avenues for further study, including the cultural transformations in the country.
