There is a prison for ex-presidents on the outskirts of the Peruvian capital Lima. In the Penal Barbadillo two former heads of state of the South American country are already in prison, and now a third was added over the weekend: Alejandro Toledo, Peru’s president from 2001 to 2006 and accused of accepting bribes worth millions.
Toledo in California had resisted extradition for years. Last week, however, a US court ruled that the 77-year-old must be handed over to the Peruvian judiciary. After arriving at Lima airport early Sunday morning, Toledo was presented to authorities and then helicoptered to Barbadillo detention center in the evening.
Shortly before, the question had arisen in the Peruvian media as to whether there was still room in the prison at all: Former dictator Alberto Fujimori, convicted of human rights violations, is in one cell, and the country’s last president, Pedro Castillo, is in another cell, accused of, among other things, crimes attempted coups. In general, prisons in Peru are overcrowded, said Federico Llaque, the head of the detention center. “But if the need arises, there is always room for one more.”
Alejandro Toledo was his country’s first indigenous leader
The extradition and imprisonment of Alejandro Toledo highlights the serious political crisis in Peru. In addition to the three presidents who are now in prison, there are also trials or investigations against almost all other heads of state in recent decades. Some are under house arrest or have been conditionally released pending trial. A former head of state committed suicide in 2019.
The main allegations against the former officials are almost always the same: taking advantage and corruption, as in the case of Alejandro Toledo. He was his country’s first indigenous head of state in 2001 and the first elected president since the return to democracy. Hopes and expectations were high: Toledo promised to solve human rights crimes committed in Peru during the civil war in the 1980s and the dictatorship in the 1990s. He also wanted to put an end to corruption and nepotism.
But investigators now believe Toledo accepted bribes of up to $30 million during his reign. The money came from a Brazilian construction company, which admitted in 2016 that it had paid more than $800 million to politicians across the region in exchange for lucrative government contracts.
There are individual cells for the inmates, some with a small kitchen and even a garden
Toledo has always denied all allegations while questioning the Peruvian judiciary. “I hope they don’t kill me in prison,” said the ex-president before leaving for the United States. “I have never received a single ill-gotten gain.” It is not yet clear whether Toledo will have to remain in custody until his trial begins.
The return of the ex-president hits Peru at a time of serious political and social problems. The South American country has had as many heads of state in the past seven years. Congress is split into tiny parties, and the right-wing opposition, led by the daughter of former dictator Alberto Fujimori, repeatedly tries to use legal tricks to remove the elected presidents from office.
At the end of last year, the then left-wing head of state, Pedro Castillo, declared that he would dissolve parliament entirely and rule with decrees from now on. This was treated as an attempted coup and Castillo was arrested. Now he’s in Barbadillo, the same prison that Toledo was taken to. There are individual cells for the inmates, some with a small kitchen and even a garden.