Susana Shizuko Higuchi Miyagawa ( ja, 樋口静子, Higuchi Shizuko; 26 April 1950 – 8 December 2021) was a Peruvian politician and engineer. She served as

First Lady of Peru The First lady or Gentleman of Peru (Spanish: ''Primera Dama o Primer caballero del Perú'') is the title held by the spouse or designated female family member of the president of Peru. The role usually fulfills functions of social work and accom ...

from 1990 to 1994 as the wife of President

Alberto Fujimori Alberto Kenya Fujimori Inomoto ( or ; born 28 July 1938) is a Peruvian politician, professor and former engineer who was President of Peru from 28 July 1990 until 22 November 2000. Frequently described as a dictator, * * * * * * he remains a ...

. A member of the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

for two terms from 2000 to 2006, Higuchi was elected as a member of the

Independent Moralizing Front The Independent Moralizing Front ( es, Frente Independiente Moralizador) was a Peruvian political party. At the legislative elections, 8 April 2001, the party won 11.0% of the popular vote and 11 out of 120 seats in the Congress of the Republic ...

(''Frente Independiente Moralizador'', FIM), a reformist political party allied with then president

Alejandro Toledo Alejandro Celestino Toledo Manrique (; born 28 March 1946) is a Peruvian politician who served President of Peru, from 2001 to 2006. He gained international prominence after leading the opposition against president Alberto Fujimori, who held ...

, in both the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

general elections.

Early life

Of Japanese descent, Higuchi was born in

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

, Peru. She attended Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria specializing in

hydraulics Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counter ...

, working for the El Sol tire company and established her family in

La Victoria District, Lima La Victoria is a district in Lima Province, Peru. It is bordered to the north by the district of Lima; to the east by the districts of El Agustino, San Luis and San Borja; to the south by the district of San Isidro; and to the west by the dist ...

. Higuchi was often viewed as being independent and outspoken, initiating the first steps of her relationship with

despite the disagreement of her parents. The two spent four months dating, with Higuchi noting Fujimori's resemblance to her brother that died in a motorcycle accident and their shared interest in science and statistics.

Career

After marrying Fujimori, she opened the company Construcciones Fuji, often directing workers in her daily outfit of a regular shirt, jeans and boots. At this time, she was the primary income-earner in the family as Fujimori earned a modest professor salary, creating an unequal and strained relationship.

First Lady of Peru

As first lady during her husband's presidency, Higuchi was among the early people in Peru to allege criminal misdoings on the part of her husband. As early as 1992, she denounced several of her Fujimori in-laws for corruption in connection, especially Juana and Rosa Fujimori, alleging Fujimori's sisters sold used clothing donated by Japan for millions of dollars. The

Congress of Peru The Congress of the Republic of Peru ( es, Congreso de la República) is the unicameral body that assumes legislative power in Peru. Congress' composition is established by Chapter I of Title IV of the Constitution of Peru. Congress is compose ...

was beginning to investigate the allegations, though President Fujimori initiated the 1992 Peruvian coup d'état and dissolved Congress before any formal inquiries could begin. In 1994, she publicly condemned her husband as a tyrant and his government as corrupt. Fujimori reacted by formally stripping her of the title

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

in August 1994, appointing their elder daughter Keiko First Lady in her place. Higuchi thereupon established her own political party, the ''Harmony 21st century'', and announced her intention to enter politics as a candidate for

mayor of Lima The following is a list of Lima's mayors through the 20th and 21st centuries. '' Alcaldes ordinarios'' of the first and the second vote Mayors of Lima See also * Timeline of Lima {{Peru lists Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded ...

in the 1995 elections. In December 1994 the Harmony party was ruled ineligible because it failed to muster the required number of signatures to qualify as a legitimate political party. Because of her outspokenness, Higuchi was subjected to repeated efforts to silence her. Peru's media, which operated in accordance to President Fujimori, also ignored stories regarding the alleged abuses against Higuchi. One journalist of Channel 2, Juan Subauste, said that they interviewed Higuchi in 1994 in the Plaza de Armas of Lima where she said that she was mistreated and locked in her room, though the interview was never reported in Peru until the 2000s due to the oversight of Channel 2 by the National Intelligence Service of

Vladimiro Montesinos Vladimiro Lenin Ilich Montesinos Torres (born 20 May 1945) is a former long-standing head of Peru's intelligence service, National Intelligence Service (SIN), under President Alberto Fujimori. In the year 2000, the infamous "Vladi-videos" came ...

. In 2001, she told investigators probing the corruption of the Fujimori years that she had been tortured "five hundred times" by the intelligence services of the

Peruvian Army The Peruvian Army ( es, Ejército del Perú, abbreviated EP) is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with safeguarding the independence, sovereignty and integrity of national territory on land through military force. Additional missions ...

. Fujimori denied that Higuchi had been tortured. He said the scars on her back and neck were not caused by torture, but were the result of a traditional Chinese and Japanese therapy called

moxibustion Moxibustion () is a traditional Chinese medicine therapy which consists of burning dried mugwort ('' wikt:moxa'') on particular points on the body. It plays an important role in the traditional medical systems of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, ...

, which Higuchi underwent to help her stop smoking and to relieve back troubles. In July 2001, she alleged that in 1990, shortly before coming to power, her ex-husband received a donation of US$12.5 million from Japanese citizens destined for poor children in Peru, but he deposited it in a private bank account in Japan.

Personal life

Higuchi married

on 25 July 1974 and formally divorced him in 1996. They have four children: Keiko Sofía, Hiro Alberto, Sachi Marcela, and Kenji Gerardo. Higuchi died in 2021 of cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higuchi, Susana 1950 births 2021 deaths People from Lima Peruvian politicians of Japanese descent Independent Moralizing Front politicians Members of the Congress of the Republic of Peru First Ladies of Peru 21st-century Peruvian women politicians 21st-century Peruvian politicians Hydraulic engineers Women members of the Congress of the Republic of Peru