Peru’s president ousted in ‘express impeachment’ after just four months | Peru
Peru’s interim president was forced from office in an “express indictment” after a political scandal linked to his secret meetings with Chinese businessmen.
Lawmakers voted 75 to 24 to impeach José Jerí, who had been at the helm of the country for only four months.
He became embroiled in a scandal dubbed “Chifagate” after security camera footage surfaced showing him meeting with illegal Chinese businessmen outside of his official schedule, including a visit during which he appeared to try to conceal his identity with a hooded top.
Jerí, 39, was Peru’s eighth president since 2016, amid oustings, resignations and interim mandates, in a period of unprecedented political instability.
Acting Peruvian Congress President Fernando Rospigliosi said lawmakers would vote on Wednesday to decide who would replace Jerí just months before the country’s presidential elections in April.
Jerí was initially popular, but his popularity plummeted amid the Chifagate controversy and other scandals.
Political parties that had supported him began calling on him to resign, seeking to distance themselves as the election campaign began.
Prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into allegations of influence peddling related to meetings with Yang Zhihua, known as “Johnny,” a well-connected Chinese businessman who has lived in Peru for decades.
Prosecutors say another Chinese citizen, Ji Wu Xiaodong, who was present at one of the meetings, is accused of belonging to an illegal timber trafficking network known as Los Hostiles de la Amazonia and has been placed under house arrest for two years.
Jerí is also under investigation for allegedly hiring unqualified young women who obtained government jobs after late-night meetings at the presidential palace, based on his official entry and exit log.
Several of them had also accompanied Jerí on several official trips aboard the presidential plane. Jerí denied any wrongdoing and said the appointments were legal.
The shake-up at the top of Peruvian politics comes amid a standoff between the US administration’s new ambassador to Peru, Bernardo Navarro, and China.
Navarro, who began his diplomatic duties in Peru this month, lambasted “cheap Chinese money” in an article on
The fully automated port is located approximately 50 miles north of Lima. Previously, U.S. officials had suggested the deep-water port could be used for naval activities, which Peru denied.
In response, China’s Foreign Ministry denounced what it called the United States’ “false accusations and disinformation against China’s cooperation with Peru” regarding the Chancay port.
Keen to divert diplomatic attention away from the United States, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry posted on X a photo of its minister shaking hands with China’s ambassador to Peru, Song Yang, to mark the Lunar New Year and praising Chinese investment and bilateral trade relations.
