Fujimori names Nobel laureate’s son Peru ambassador to US

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Right-wing President Keiko Fujimori has named Peru’s next ambassador to the United States, a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the Andean nation.

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Fujimori, who took office in July, said on Friday that Alvaro Vargas Llosa — the son of the late Nobel Prize–winning author and politician Mario Vargas Llosa — had accepted the position.

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“I believe Alvaro Vargas Llosa is going to be a great ambassador of Peru to the United States,” Fujimori said in an interview with Peru’s RPP radio station.

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Alvaro Vargas Llosa responded in a post on X: “I will place my experience and knowledge, and my utmost effort, at the service of the mission entrusted to me, to safeguard Peru’s permanent interests… in accordance with the course set” by the president.

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The appointment has to be legally reviewed before it is confirmed.

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Peru has not had an ambassador in the US since the start of Fujimori’s term. The previous ambassador, Alfredo Ferrero, was dismissed in June.

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Mario Vargas Llosa was defeated by Alberto Fujimori, Keiko’s father, in the second round of the 1990 presidential election. Both he and his son have been fierce critics of the former leader.

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Ahead of Rubio’s visit on Thursday, Peru joined the “Shield of the Americas,” a US-led coalition promoted by President Donald Trump to combat drug trafficking and organized crime across the region.

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Fujimori said that being part of the coalition allowed Lima to receive security intelligence more quickly “and act more firmly.”

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AFP

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