By FRANKLIN BRICEÑO
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvians woke up to their seventh president in less than a decade Friday, as 38-year-old José Jerí took the reins of the shaken nation after Congress ousted widely loathed President Dina Boluarte in a lightening overnight impeachment.
The young lawyer with scarce political experience, who just became president of the Congress in July, said shortly after being sworn in early Friday that he would seek “reconciliation,” tackle Peru’s runaway crime and ensure “neutrality” in elections when Peruvians elect a new president in April.
Lawmakers had set up a debate and impeachment trial late Thursday in the 130-member unicameral Congress after voting to accept four requests for a vote to remove Boluarte from office over what they said was her government’s inability to stem crime.
They requested that Boluarte come before them shortly before midnight to defend herself, but when she did not appear they immediately voted to oust her. In short order, 124 lawmakers voted just past midnight to impeach Boluarte. There were no votes against the effort, the ninth attempt to remove her.
The shocking turn of events came just hours after a man open fired at a concert in the capital, injuring five and inflaming anger over crime roiling the country.
Jerí’s rapid ascension was all the more surprising because in August he gave a lengthy interview to Peruvian newspaper El Comercio in which he said he wouldn’t replace Boluarte if she were impeached because he believed in “presidential institutionality and we’re so close to the end of her term.”
Boluarte’s presidency
Boluarte, Peru’s first female president, took office in December 2022 after Parliament used the same mechanism to impeach her predecessor. Then-President Pedro Castillo was removed from office just two years into his five-year term after attempting to dissolve the legislature to avoid his own removal.
Boluarte had served as Castillo’s vice president before becoming president, so there was no vice president to take her place when she was removed Friday. Next in line was the president of the Congress, Jerí.
After Friday’s vote, Boluarte spoke on national television, recounting her administration’s achievements.
“I have not thought of myself, but rather of Peruvians,” she said.
Minutes into her speech, the broadcast was interrupted to show Jerí’s swearing in.
On Friday, the Attorney General’s Office asked a judge to prohibit Boluarte from leaving the country while it investigates two cases, one alleged money laundering and the other alleged corruption. The judge did not immediately rule.
In a statement, investigators said that they are looking at money allegedly funneled through Boluarte before her presidency to the fugitive leader of a political party. The other case has to do with Boluarte using her influence as president to do favors for friends, in particular the plastic surgeon who gave her a secret nose job in 2023. She eventually confirmed that she had undergone the procedure.
Jerí’s ascent to the presidency
Jerí obtained his seat in the Congress in 2021 as a substitute for ex-President Martín Vizcarra, who was from the same political party and electoral district, when Vizcarra was barred from holding public office.
Ironically, Jerí became the Congress’ president in July with support of the same coalition of parties that had supported Boluarte in power.
Earlier this year, the Attorney General’s Office confirmed that it had opened a preliminary investigation into an accusation of rape against Jerí. Months later, the office announced the investigation was shelved without further explanation. Jerí denied the accusations in the interview with El Comercio in August.
Jerí will serve out Boluarte’s term as interim president. Elections are scheduled for next April and Boluarte’s term was to end July 28, 2026.
A controversial presidency
There were more than 500 protests demanding Boluarte’s resignation in the first three months of her presidency.
Plagued by scandals, her administration’s inability to address Peru’s incessant crime proved to be her undoing.
On Wednesday, she partially blamed the situation on immigrants living in the country illegally.
“This crime has been brewing for decades and has been strengthened by illegal immigration, which past administrations haven’t defeated,” she said during a military ceremony. “Instead, they’ve opened the doors of our borders and allowed criminals to enter everywhere… without any restrictions.”
Official figures show that 6,041 people were killed between January and mid-August, the highest number during the same period since 2017. Meanwhile, extortion complaints totaled 15,989 between January and July, a 28% increase compared to the same period in 2024.
On Friday, Boluarte’s lawyer Juan Portugal told local radio station RPP that Boluarte was at her home in Lima and had no desire to seek political asylum elsewhere.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
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