Alberto Fujimori surprising upset. He capitalized on profound disenchantment with outgoing president Alan García and the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance party (APRA). He exploited popular distrust of Vargas Llosa's identification with the existing Peruvian political establishment, and uncertainty about his plans for neoliberal economic reforms. During the campaign, Fujimori was nicknamed "El Chino", which roughly translates to "Chinaman"; it is common for people of any East Asian descent to be called "chino" in Peru, as elsewhere in Latin America, both derogatively and affectionately. Although he is of Japanese heritage, Fujimori has suggested that he was always gladdened by the term, which he
Pardon of Alberto Fujimori the former President due to a "progressive, degenerative and incurable disease". On 23 December, Fujimori was transferred from the Diroes prison to a clinic. On 24 December, the Press Office of the Presidential Office announced the pardon of Alberto Fujimori through a press release. The same day, Kuczynski signed R.S. No. 281-2017-JUS., granting Fujimori "pardon and right of grace for humanitarian reasons within the Barbadillo Penitentiary Establishment". On 25 December, in the face of protests against the pardon, Kuczysnki released a Message to the Nation, asking people to not "get carried away by hate" nor to allow the former President