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Alan García, a former Peruvian president whose first term in the 1980s was marred by financial chaos and rebel violence, and who was recently targeted in Latin America's biggest corruption scandal, died on Wednesday at the age of 69.

President Martin Vizcarra announced on Twitter that García died after undergoing emergency surgery for a bullet wound hours earlier.

García shot himself before being detained by police amid allegations he received illegal payments from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht after Peruvians voted him back into the presidency for a second term in 2006.

A lifelong politician, García's career was marked by epic triumphs and setbacks, a rollercoaster of a public life fueled by his charisma.

He was "condemned to become president again and again," a former president, Fernando Belaunde, once said.