Alberto Fujimori, Peru's controversial former president, buried after 3 days of national mourning

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Controversial former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was buried Saturday after three days of national mourning in which thousands of supporters lined up outside a museum in Lima to visit the politician's casket.

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte saluted the former president before his burial at a pompous ceremony held in the presidential palace, where his casket was saluted by soldiers dressed in 19th-century uniforms.

But Boluarte did not speak about Fujimori, a divisive figure who ruled Peru for a decade, and whose eldest daughter is now one of the country's most influential politicians.

Fujimori died of cancer on Wednesday at age 86. He was Peru's president from 1990 to 2000 and had been in prison for most of the past 15 years after being convicted of crimes against humanity.

Fujimori was a university professor when he burst onto Peru's political scene in the early 90s. His administration helped to put the nation's economy on track following years of hyperinflation, and defeated the Shining Path, a fanatic communist group that led a violent campaign to overthrow the government.

But Fujimori's government took an authoritarian turn in 1992, when he ordered the military to shut down Peru's congress and its supreme court and declared a state of emergency. The measure undermined Peru's democracy, and led to a period rife with human rights abuses. Political scientists say the surprise move against the congress, known in Latin America as the “Fujimorazo,” later inspired similar efforts by other presidents in the region to undermine local legislative branches and seize more power for the executive branch.

In 2009 Fujimori was convicted for the murders of 25 people in two massacres committed by a Peruvian military squadron in the outskirts of Lima, as well as the kidnapping of a journalist following the 1992 coup against the nation's congress. Fujimori received a 25-year prison sentence and became the first elected leader in Latin American convicted of crimes against humanity.

Fujimori spent the last years of his life fighting the 2009 ruling and other corruption cases and received a presidential pardon in 2017 from then-Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. The pardon was revoked following a ruling by the Interamerican Court of Human Rights, but was reinstalled at the end of last year, when Fujimori was released from prison.

On Saturday, Fujimori's children and hundreds of his supporters attended a religious ceremony for the former president that was held at a large theater in Lima.

“Finally daddy, you are free from the hate and vengeance of those people who did not forgive you for rescuing us from hunger and terror,” Fujimori's daughter, Keiko Fujimori said. “You are free from those years of injust imprisonment."

Fujimori is survived by two daughters and two sons. Keiko, his eldest daughter, is a two-time presidential candidat e. She now leads the conservative party Fuerza Popular, which has blocked several attempts by left-wing parties to impeach Boluarte for the deaths of dozens of anti-government protesters in December of 2022, and January of last year.

Associated Press writer Manuel Rueda contributed from Bogota, Colombia.

People attend the funeral of former President Alberto Fujimori n Lima, Peru, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

Supporters of former President Alberto Fujimori gather outside the cemetery during his funeral in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

Keiko Fujimori places a flower on the grave of her father, former President Alberto Fujimori, during his funeral n Lima, Peru, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

Supporters of former President Alberto Fujimori gather outside the cemetery during his funeral in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

Kenji Fujimori mourns during the funeral of his father, former President Alberto Fujimori, in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

Keiko Fujimori, left, embraces her daughters Kiara, center, and Kaori during the funeral of her father, former President Alberto Fujimori, in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

Keiko Fujimori places a flower over the coffin of her father, former President Alberto Fujimori, in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

A Florida sheriff said there were “no signs of an active shooter” and no injuries after police responded to a report of gunshots at the Corry Station, a Navy installation in Pensacola.

Law enforcement authorities and military personnel said they had cleared the facility to reopen after conducting a thorough sweep of the facility, according to a post on the Naval Air Station Pensacola's social media accounts at about 1:15 p.m. Thursday.

Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said someone reported hearing multiple gunshots about 10:15 a.m., but deputies conducted a search and found no evidence of a shooting and no victims. All available deputies responded to Corry Station sub-installation in response and worked with military personnel to search the station, authorities said.

The base and Naval Air Station Pensacola had closed entrances as police investigated. Officers continued to conduct a comprehensive sweep of the base for almost two hours before clearing the threat.

Corry Station is a sub-installation of the larger Naval Air Station Pensacola command. The station houses several units including the Navy’s Center for Information Warfare Training as well as civilian and Marine operations. The Navy’s website for the installation notes the gates are open 24 hours a day, but require credentials or accompaniment of credentialed individuals to enter.

Naval Air Station information specialists posted on the station’s X and Facebook accounts that the gates to Corry Station remained closed just before 12:30 p.m., but other entrances to the larger station had begun reopening.

NAS Pensacola had a previous shooting incident in December 2019 in which a Saudi student at the air station opened fire in a classroom, killing three sailors and wounding eight other people including two sheriff’s deputies. One of the deputies killed the shooter, Mohammed Alshamrani, in that incident.

After the shooting the first Trump administration sent 21 Saudi military students home, noting they had jihadist or anti-American sentiments on social media pages or had contact with child sexual abuse materials, including in internet chat rooms, officials said in early 2020. None of those trainees was accused of having had advance knowledge of the shooting or helped the 21-year-old gunman carry it out.

FILE- In this Jan. 29, 2016 file photo shows the entrance to the Naval Air Base Station in Pensacola, Fla. (AP Photo/Melissa Nelson, File)