Monthly Archives: April 2019

By Simeon Tegel LIMA, Peru — It’s impossible to know why Alan García killed himself this week. The charismatic politician, once hailed as Latin America’s JFK, shot himself Wednesday after police showed up at his home in Lima on Wednesday to arrest him in the largest corruption scandal in the region’s history. Had he not killed himself, García, 69, would have faced up to three years in pretrial detention, potentially without actually being indicted — a term unthinkable in many democracies, even for suspects facing overwhelming evidence of the most heinous crimes. “It…Read more …

By Simeon Tegel and Adam Taylor LIMA, Peru — Alan García, the former two-time president of Peru, died Wednesday morning after shooting himself as police attempted to arrest him in the wide-ranging corruption scandal that has implicated scores of leaders in Peru and Latin America. García, 69, was alleged to have taken bribes from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht in return for massive public works contracts. He denied receiving money from the company. García was a giant of Peruvian politics who overcame a catastrophic first administration in the 1980s — besieged by hyperinflation, the…Read more …