Peru’s Congress voted on Oct. 9 to remove President Dina Boluarte from office for “moral incapacity” after a late-night session to debate various impeachment or “vacancy” measures. Lawmakers ultimately voted 122-0 to remove Boluarte. She was replaced by congressional leader José Jerí. The impeachment proceedings were initiated after various lawmakers brought allegations of corruption and excessive use of force against protesters. Boluarte’s lawyer claimed to have received only 50 minutes between notification and the hearing. Boluarte chose not to attend Congress to present her defense, citing procedural violations. (Jurist)
President Jerí on Oct. 15 appointed as head of the Interior Ministry the former commander of the Peruvian National Police (PNP), Vicente Tiburcio Orbezo. Tiburcio’s tenure as PNP commander only lasted three months, as he was sacked by then-president Pedro Castillo in May 2022, in apparent retaliation for having ordered the arrest of his nephews in the corruption probe against his administration. But Tiburcio has had a long career fighting organized crime and armed insurgents, having been part of the team within the PNP’s Special Intelligence Group (GEIN) that carried out the arrest of Shining Path leader Abimael Guzmán in 1992. He subsequently served in campaigns against both the Shining Path and Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA). He was chosen by Jerí with a mission of addressing the crisis of “citizen security” in Peru. (InfoBAE)
Peru is currently grappling with a surge in gang-related extortion and contract killings, with extortion cases skyrocketing from a few hundred in all of 2017 to more than 2,000 per month this year, according to PNP data. Dozens of bus drivers targeted by extortion rings have been killed on the job in the past two years, and several stores and other small businesses have been attacked with explosives. (NYT)
Boluarte had been seeking emergency powers to crack down on illegal mining, which remains an outstanding problem. On Oct. 6, the Andean Community regional trade bloc ruled that Peru is failing to meet its commitments to curb illegal gold mining and mercury trafficking. The bloc ordered Peru to urgently reform its laws, seize dredging machinery and other mining equipment, and end extensions of a registry for titling informal miners that critics say shields illegality. This comes as the price of gold is soared, fueling the illegal trade. It is estimated that 50% of all the illegal gold exported from South America originates in Peru. (AP, PRI)
The illegal gold rush has cleared 140,000 hectares (540 square miles) of rainforest in the Peruvian Amazon since 1984, and the rate of loss is accelerating, according to the Andean Amazon Monitoring Project (MAAP) and its Peruvian partner organization, Conservación Amazónica. (The Guardian)
Photo: Wikipedia
‘Gen Z’ protests hit Peru
The global wave of "Gen Z" protests has decisively reached Peru, as the demonstrations that helped prompt the removal of Boluarte have remobilized against the new government of José Jerí. Youth-led demonstrations in Lima Oct. 15 were attacked by the police, leaving one dead. The slain protester was identified as rapper Eduardo Ruiz Sanz, who went by the stage name "Truko." Protests were also reported from Arequipa, Cuzco, Huaraz, Ayacucho, Chimbote, Chiclayo, Iquitos and other cities. (France24, Marco Sifuentes)
State of emergency declared in Lima
Peru’s interim President José Jerí has declared a 30-day state of emergency in Lima in an attempt to curb Gen Z protests calling for his resignation that have left one person dead and over 100 injured. The country has experienced weeks of social unrest over corruption and rising crime rates. Jerí, the former leader of Congress, took office on Oct. 10 after President Dina Boluarte was impeached. Large numbers of military and police officers have started patrolling the capital. (TNH)
Peru Congress removes interim president amid corruption probe
The Congress of Peru on Feb. 17 approved seven motions of censure against the president of Congress and interim president of the republic, José Jerí, over accusations of corruption.
During a plenary session, 75 members of Congress voted in favor of removing José Jerí from office, with 24 opposing and three abstentions. The impeachment was prompted by an investigation into Jerí’s unregistered meetings with two Chinese businessmen, named as Zhihua Yang and Ji Wu Xiaodong, in late December and early January. Both businessmen were at the time of the meetings under investigation for corruption-related offenses, related to organized crime and illicit economic activities. Although Jerí provided explanations to the media regarding the purpose of these encounters, Congress found his statements to be inconsistent and subjected him to further scrutiny. (Jurist)
Members of Congress one day later elected José María Balcázar, 83, to lead the country on an interim basis until the end of July—when a new president, who will be chosen in a general election, will be sworn in.
Balcázar, from the left-wing Free Peru party, is the eighth president to govern Peru since 2016, with several previous leaders also deposed by Congress. (BBC News)