When Fujimori turned up for his inauguration and a third five-year term in power, it took 10 000 riot police to secure the streets before the ceremony could proceed. A huge rally of up to 120 000 protesters blocked the centre of Lima, chanting anti-government slogans and threatening to prevent the inauguration from proceeding. What began as a carnival ended in bloodshed with at least eight dead. This latest wave of unrest began in April, when Fujimori narrowly beat his popular opponent, Alejandro Toledo, in the first round of the Presidential election. The contest is widely recognised as having been rigged by Fujimori and Toledo later pulled out claiming that it wouldn't be a fair race. Toledo is known as 'el cholo', the indigenous Indian shoe shine boy who rose from the slums to become a Harvard professor. But his popularity has a price. "They threatened my life 126 times. They threaten my wife and my daughter", he says. This is a gripping tale of a country where half of the population lives in desperate poverty and where the battle between dictatorship and democracy is far from over.

Produced by ABC Australia