Peru’s former president, Ollanta Humala, has been convicted of money laundering and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
A court in Lima ruled that Humala had received illicit funds from the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht to finance his presidential campaigns in 2006 and 2011.
His wife, Nadine Heredia, who co-founded the Nationalist Party alongside him, was also convicted of money laundering and given a matching 15-year sentence. However, Heredia has been granted asylum in Brazil and, according to Peru’s foreign ministry, will be allowed safe passage to travel there with her son.
Prosecutors had originally pushed for longer sentences — 20 years for Humala and 26 and a half years for Heredia.
After a trial that spanned more than three years, the long-anticipated verdict was delivered on Tuesday. Humala appeared in court in person while Heredia attended via video link. Both had consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Who is Ollanta Humala?
A former army officer, Humala gained national attention in 2000 after leading a brief military uprising against then-president Alberto Fujimori. He ran for president in 2006, aligning himself with Venezuela’s then-leader Hugo Chávez. Prosecutors later claimed that Humala received illegal financial support from Chávez for that campaign.
His opponent, Alan García, used these ties to Chávez to attack Humala, warning that Peru could become “another Venezuela” if he won.
In his second presidential run in 2011, Humala took a more moderate stance, pledging to follow the example of Brazil’s then-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva instead of Chávez’s socialist model. This strategy helped him defeat Keiko Fujimori, a right-wing candidate.
However, public unrest and clashes during his administration soon eroded his popularity, and he lost political backing in Congress.
Humala’s legal troubles began after his presidency ended in 2016. That same year, Odebrecht admitted to paying massive bribes across Latin America to secure contracts. Peruvian prosecutors accused Humala and Heredia of receiving millions from the company.
In 2017, a judge ordered their pre-trial detention. They were released after a year, but investigations continued, leading to their convictions in 2025.