Fujimori charged that on January 26, 1995, Ecuador fired the first shot, an allegation denied by Ecuador's leader, Sixto Duran-Ballen. Predictably, each side blamed the other for starting the 1995 conflict, just as each pointed the finger of guilt to the other for provoking the border war of 1941, when Peru took most of the 120,000 square miles in contention between the two countries.