LIMA, Peru (AP) — Former Peruvian President Alan García died Wednesday shortly after shooting himself in the head as police came to detain him in connection with a corruption probe.
Current President Martinez Vizcarra said the 69-year-old head of state died after undergoing emergency surgery at the José Casimiro Ulloa Hospital in Peru’s capital.
Garcia was a populist firebrand who twice ruled Peru and more recently was under investigation related to Latin America’s largest graft probe.
Prosecutors said they believed the former president received more than $100,000 from Odebrecht, disguised as a payment to speak at a conference in Brazil.
Garcia professed his innocence and said he was being targeted politically.
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