José Jerí, 38 years old, is a lawyer and took the oath of office for a period that will last until July 2026; country will hold general elections in April
Congress removed President Dina Boluarte this Friday (10) in a lightning-fast political trial motivated by the insecurity crisis and appointed the previously president of the Legislature in her place. José Jerí, a 38-year-old lawyer, took the oath of office for a period that will last until July 2026. Peru will hold general elections in April. Since 2016, the Andean country has had seven presidents: three removed by Congress, including Boluarte, two who resigned before facing the same fate, one who completed his interim term and now Jerí.
Without her own bench or popular support, the former president found herself trapped by scandals, protests and a wave of extortion and murders by organized crime never seen in Peru.
“The main enemy is outside, on the streets, the criminal groups, the criminal organizations, they are our enemies today, and we must declare war against our enemies”, stated the new president. Jerí will complete the term that Boluarte held since December 2022, when he took office after the impeachment and arrest of former president Pedro Castillo.
After the dismissal, approved with the vote of 122 parliamentarians according to the final count of Congress, around a hundred people celebrated jubilantly in front of the Congress headquarters with a Peruvian flag, according to a journalist from AFP. “Dina down. No mafia pact”, said one of the posters held by one of the protesters.
The parliamentary majority had approved on Thursday (9) four vacancy motions against Boluarte, citing his “permanent moral incapacity” to lead the Executive. “The country has been mistreated by the cabinet and the president. Extortion, crime have increased, but she continues to live in a fantasy. She deserves to be punished,” said congresswoman Norma Yarrow, from the right-wing Popular Renewal party.
Boluarte refused to appear before the Congress that had summoned her on Thursday night to defend herself in the political trial. His lawyer Juan Carlos Portugal alleged a lack of guarantees regarding “due process” due to the short time to prepare the defense.
Scandals and lawsuits
Cornered by protests and scandals of alleged corruption that he always denied, Boluarte had no margin to remain in office. During his administration, he managed to make bureaucratic pacts with conservative forces in exchange for not voting, until now, on any impeachment request. This allowed him to survive several investigations by the Prosecutor’s Office which, however, reduced his popularity to record lows.
“At all times I invoked unity, to work together (…) I didn’t think about myself, but about the more than 34 million Peruvians,” Boluarte said this Friday after his dismissal, in a message that was interrupted by the state channel.
Its governability has deteriorated in recent months due to the insecurity crisis and protests from different sectors.
Boluarte took office on December 7, 2022, replacing the dismissed and arrested Pedro Castillo. The then vice president assumed power after the leftist leader’s failed attempt to govern by decree.
Its rise was marked by protests that were repressed by law enforcement and left around fifty people dead, according to human rights organizations. The Prosecutor’s Office was investigating her for this case, in addition to two other cases: one for allegedly abandoning her position by operating on her nose without informing Congress, as required by law; and another, due to the so-called Rolexgate, a scandal that broke out in 2024 when he appeared with luxury jewelry that he had not declared in his list of assets. With her dismissal, Boluarte loses her jurisdiction and could eventually be tried and sentenced.
*With information from AFP
Published by Nícolas Robert
