Pardon of Alberto Fujimori to "die in prison". In a video broadcast on his social media, Fujimori apologized to those who were "defrauded by [his] government" and thanked Kuczynski. There was widespread criticism in Peru that the pardon was motivated less by clemency than a desire to reward Fujimori's son Kenji for his role in helping Kuczynski survive the impeachment vote against him the week before the pardon. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Lima on 26 December. The Peruvian non-profit law office Legal Defense Institute denounced the pardon as political and illegal and vowed to appeal it to the Inter-American Court
Alberto Fujimori first term in office, APRA and Vargas Llosa's party, the FREDEMO, remained in control of both chambers of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, hampering the enactment of economic reform. Fujimori also had difficulty combatting the Maoist Shining Path () guerrilla organization due largely to what he perceived as intransigence and obstructionism in Congress. By March 1992, Congress met with the approval of only 17% of the electorate, according to one poll; the president's approval rate stood at 42%, in the same poll. In response to the political deadlock, Fujimori, with the support of the military, on 5