Peru’s ex-president Humala jail term overturned

The case against Humala was part of the wider Odebrecht scandal that has shaken Peru’s political class for years. Humala was the first of four Peruvian presidents to come under investigation linked to the company. Alejandro Toledo, who led the country from 2001 to 2006, was sentenced last year to more than 20 years in prison over bribes from Odebrecht. Alan García, who served two separate presidential terms, died in 2019 as arrest loomed over similar allegations, which he denied. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski also faced impeachment proceedings after reports that Odebrecht had paid him millions in a prior government role.

Humala’s own political rise began well before the current corruption saga. A former army officer, he became nationally known in 2000 after leading a brief military rebellion against then-president Alberto Fujimori. He later ran for president in 2006 on a platform influenced by Hugo Chávez’s socialist revolution, then returned in 2011 with a more moderate message modeled on the policies of Brazil’s then-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

After an unsuccessful first attempt, Humala defeated right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, in 2011. But once he left office in 2016, prosecutors moved in on allegations that he and Heredia had accepted millions from Odebrecht and additional illegal campaign money from Chávez. The couple spent a year in pre-trial detention before their 2025 convictions, which the constitutional court has now wiped away.

The ruling matters well beyond one former leader’s fate because it underscores how deeply the Odebrecht scandal has damaged trust in Peru’s political system. For Americans watching Latin America, the case is another reminder of how corruption cases can reshape entire governments and keep reverberating long after the officials involved leave office.