Peru's ex-president Garcia kills himself to avoid arrest

Lima: Peru's former president Alan Garcia shot himself in the head on Wednesday to avoid arrest in connection with alleged bribes from Brazilian builder Odebrecht, taking his own life, in the most dramatic turn yet in Latin America's largest graft scandal.

Garcia, a towering and charismatic gure who played a central role in Peruvian politics for more than three decades, died in a hospital at age 69 after shooting himself at his house in Lima when police arrived with a warrant for his arrest.

Garcia's death shocked the Andean country that had watched his transition from a ery leftist who was elected president at age 36 to a free-market crusader who won a second term in 2006.

A pugnacious politician considered one of Latin America's best orators, Garcia had long been dogged by graft allegations that he brushed off as baseless political smears.

But prosecutors investigating Odebrecht gathered enough evidence to secure a judicial order this week to hold Garcia in pre-trial detention while they prepared charges against him, arguing that he might ee or obstruct their work.

secured lucrative contracts in the region by bribing politicians. Former Odebrecht executives are now cooperating with prosecutors as informants.

The investigation in Peru had picked up speed in recent months, with a judge ordering another former president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, to jail before trial in connection with the company last week.

The scandal had already touched the highest levels of Peru's ruling political class. Ex-President Alejandro Toledo is ghting extradition from the United States after a Peruvian judge ordered him jailed in

2017, while another former leader, Ollanta Humala, spent nine months in pre-trial detention before he was released last year on appeal.

"Others might sell out, not me," Garcia told a local broadcaster in some of his last public comments on Tuesday, repeating a phrase he used frequently as his political rivals became ensnared in the scandal in recent years.

He said in the interview that he was not afraid of the investigation because "I believe in life after death."

A closed door, a shot heard After police arrived at Garcia's house to arrest him early on Wednesday, Garcia told them he had to call his attorney, Interior Minister Carlos Moran said.

"He entered a room and closed the door behind him," Moran told a news conference shortly before Garcia's death was con rmed. "Within a Garcia's supporters prepared for a wake at the headquarters of his once- powerful party APRA as condolences poured in from regional leaders, including Chile's conservative Sebastian Pinera and Bolivia's leftist Evo Morales.

"APRA never dies!" his supporters chanted to news cameras.

Garcia's death will likely throw cold water on the Odebrecht probe in Peru. It may also deepen the divide between centrist President Martin Vizcarra and the rightwing opposition that controls Congress, where Garcia had in uential allies.

Late last year, Garcia asked Uruguay for political asylum after he was banned from leaving the country while under investigation, calling Vizcarra a "dictator." Uruguay rejected the request.

Some of Garcia's supporters called his suicide a heroic act.

"Garcia made a decision as a free man. It was a decision of dignity and honour," Mauricio Mulder, an APRA lawmaker, said in broadcast comments.

Vizcarra took of ce a year ago to replace Kuczynski after he resigned in a graft scandal, and has made ghting graft the centrepiece of his government. He has said he does not interfere in the constitutionally independent prosecutors' office.

But criticism of the use of pre-trial detention in the Odebrecht probe has grown following several high-pro le arrests in recent years.

likely lead to a conviction and the suspects would likely flee or obstruct their work if free.

The attorney general's of ce announced an internal probe into lead prosecutors on the Odebrecht probe on Wednesday after Garcia's supporters accused them of irregularities.

Vizcarra ordered ags own at half staff and declared a three-day national period of mourning for Garcia. Garcia's family members opted to break with protocol and not have Vizcarra or a government representative preside over his funeral, local media said.

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