The Return of Fujimori Dynasty: Critical Minerals and the New Geopolitics of Peru
- Phoebe Chow
- 9 hours ago
- 3 min read
Peru’s Keiko Fujimori’s victory marks far more than a political comeback. It signals the return of Fujimorismo—the political movement founded by her father, the controversial Alberto Fujimori, who governed Peru from 1990 to 2000. The result reflects a broader trend across Latin America, where voters frustrated by rising crime, economic stagnation, and political instability are increasingly turning to conservative and law-and-order leaders. Similar political shifts have already taken place in Argentina, Ecuador and Paraguay, suggesting that the region may be entering a new rightward political cycle.
The Fujimorismo Legacy
Yet Keiko Fujimori’s story is unique for another reason. She is the daughter of Japanese immigrants, making the Fujimori family one of the most remarkable examples of how immigration has shaped modern politics. The first Japanese migrants arrived in Peru in 1899 to work on plantations. More than a century later, a Japanese surname has returned to the presidential palace for the third time if one counts Alberto Fujimori’s decade in office and Keiko’s own election. Few immigrant families have left such a profound mark on a country’s political history.
The Japanese diaspora in Latin America remains significant today. Brazil is home to roughly 2 million people of Japanese descent, the largest Japanese community outside Japan. Peru has around 100,000 Nikkei, while the global Japanese diaspora numbers approximately 3.7 million. Although Japan’s geopolitical influence is often overshadowed by China today, its migration legacy continues to shape business, culture and politics across Latin America.
Will Keiko Fujimori’s Japanese heritage translate into closer ties with Tokyo? The answer is likely more nuanced than many expect. Her father famously fled to Japan in 2000 and resigned as Peru’s president by fax while staying in Tokyo, triggering one of Latin America’s most extraordinary political crises. Japan initially refused Peru’s extradition request because Alberto Fujimori held Japanese citizenship base on jus soli reasons. Despite these historical connections, Peru’s foreign policy will ultimately be driven by national interests rather than family heritage. Japan remains an important economic partner, but it is neither Peru’s largest investor nor its most influential geopolitical partner.
Peru’s Copper Production Ranked #3 in the World
The real strategic importance of Peru lies underground. Peru is the world’s second-largest producer of copper, a metal that has become indispensable for AI infrastructure, electric vehicles, renewable energy systems and modern power grids. Copper is no longer merely an industrial commodity—it is a strategic resource in the global technology race.
China dominates Peru’s copper exports, purchasing roughly 70–75% of the country’s overseas shipments. Japan follows with around 6–8%, while South Korea accounts for approximately 3–5%. By comparison, the United States imports only a relatively small share of Peru’s copper—generally around 2–3% of total exports. Although the U.S. is not a major direct buyer, it remains deeply interested in Peru’s mining sector as Washington seeks to diversify critical mineral supply chains away from excessive dependence on China.
Chancay Port and the Big Brother Above
This creates a delicate geopolitical balancing act. Like several newly elected conservative governments in Latin America, Keiko Fujimori is expected to pursue a more pro-business and pro-American foreign policy. However, China has already established an enormous economic footprint in Peru through trade, mining investments and the newly developed Chancay Port, which is expected to become one of South America’s most important gateways to Asia. No Peruvian administration can simply ignore Beijing without risking significant economic consequences.
For that reason, the next Fujimori government is unlikely to choose between Washington and Beijing outright. Instead, Peru will probably continue a pragmatic strategy: maintaining security and diplomatic cooperation with the United States while preserving deep economic ties with China and expanding technological and commercial relations with Japan.
It is noteworthy that Keiko Fujimori’s election is about much more than one family returning to power. It represents the intersection of migration, ideology, great-power competition and the global scramble for critical minerals. As AI, electric vehicles and clean energy reshape the world economy, Peru’s political choices may have consequences that extend far beyond the Andes.
If China’s influence in Latin America has largely been built through capital, and America’s through security, Japan’s comparative advantage may lie in something less tangible but equally valuable: trust, historical ties and diaspora networks. Keiko Fujimori’s presidency alone will not transform Japan’s position in the Global South. But it could offer Tokyo a rare opportunity to deepen its engagement with a strategically important region at a time when critical minerals, resilient supply chains and middle-power diplomacy are becoming defining features of the emerging world order.
References:
https://www.reuters.com/world/south-america-trump-already-losing-trade-battle-with-china-2024-11-11/
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