Chile arrested disgraced former president Alberto Fujimori of Peru early this morning.
Mr Fujimori, who is wanted in Peru on human rights abuse and corruption charges, was arrested at the Marriott Hotel in Santiago after arriving yesterday afternoon on a surprise visit from Japan, saying he would return to Peru to launch a presidential campaign.
"He did not resist the arrest, on the contrary," said the head of Interpol in Chile. "He is completely calm." It was unclear where he was being held.
Mr Fujimori, who led Peru from 1990 to 2000, has been a fugitive in his ancestral homeland Japan since he fled there in November 2000, when a corruption scandal toppled his government.
There are international arrest warrants outstanding for Mr Fujimori. Chilean courts processed a local arrest warrant yesterday, enabling police to take him into custody.
"It is my aim to temporarily remain in Chile as part of my efforts to return to Peru and keep my promise to an important part of the Peruvian people who have called on me to be a candidate in the 2006 elections," Mr Fujimori (67) said in a statement released yesterday in Peru and Chile.
Peru was planning to launch a suit at the International Court in The Hague this year to try to force Japan to send the former president to Peru for trial.
But Japan had refused to extradite Mr Fujimori, born in Peru to Japanese immigrants because he obtained citizenship after moving there in 2000.