Alan García, Peru’s ex-president, killed himself as police sought to arrest him

ON THE evening of April 16th, Alan García, Peru’s former president, went on the radio to declare he was innocent of accusations of corruption that were swirling around. Rumours of his likely arrest were pure supposition, he insisted: “I can tell you that I was not born to steal.”

But when police officers went to his home in Lima the next morning to detain him, Mr García asked to make a phone call, went into a room and closed the door, according to the interior minister, Carlos Morán. Minutes later, a shot rang out, and police found Mr García sitting on a chair with a bullet wound to his head. He died a few hours later in a hospital. Mr García perished as he had lived as a politician—surrounded by controversy.