Alberto Fujimori April 1992, carried out a presidential coup. also known as the "autogolpe" (auto-coup or self-coup) or "Fujigolpe" (Fuji-coup) in Peru. He shut down Congress, suspended the constitution, and purged the judiciary. The coup was welcomed by the public, according to numerous polls. Not only was the coup itself marked by favorable public opinion in several independent polls, but also public approval of the Fujimori administration jumped significantly in the wake of the coup. Fujimori often cited this public support in defending the coup, which he characterized as "not a negation of real democracy, but on the contrary… a search for
Alberto Fujimori that "[i]n no other country in Latin America did a president have so much control over the armed forces". A 2002 report by Health Minister later suggested that Fujimori was involved in the forced sterilizations of up to 300,000 indigenous women between 1996 and 2000, as part of a population control program. A 2004 World Bank publication said that in this period Montesinos' abuse of the power Fujimori granted him "led to a steady and systematic undermining of the rule of law". The 1993 constitution limited a presidency to two terms. Shortly after Fujimori began his second term, his supporters