The polarizing Latin American politician was released from prison in December for humanitarian reasons.

Alberto Fujimori, the polarizing former president of Peru who was credited with stabilizing the Latin American country’s economy before being jailed for human rights abuses, has died at the age of 86, his family announced.

Fujimori’s daughter Keiko Fujimori said the former president died after a long battle with cancer.

“We ask all who loved him to join us in praying for the eternal rest of his soul,” Keiko Fujimori said in a post on X on Wednesday. “Thank you for so much, Dad!”

Fujimori, a former agricultural engineer and university professor, emerged from obscurity and finished second in Peru’s 1990 election against establishment favorite Mario Vargas Llosa before defeating his rival in a subsequent runoff.

During his ten-year presidency, Fujimori won praise for fighting hyperinflation, boosting economic growth and cracking down on the Maoist Shining Path rebel group.

However, the son of Japanese immigrants has also been criticized for consolidating his power through undemocratic means and undermining Peru’s institutions and the rule of law.

After temporarily paralyzing Congress and the courts, Fujimori fled Peru in 2000 after footage emerged showing his intelligence chief bribing lawmakers.

From exile in Japan, of which Fujimori was a citizen, he submitted his resignation by fax.

In 2005, Fujimori traveled to Chile to launch a political comeback, but was extradited to Peru to face trial for atrocities committed by a military unit early in his term.

In 2009, Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found responsible for the massacre of 25 people, including a child, by death squads acting on behalf of the government.

Peru’s Supreme Court ordered his release in December on humanitarian grounds.

In July, Keiko Fujimori announced that her father would run for a fourth term as president in 2026.