The police and prosecutors in Peru carried out a shock raid on the house of President Dina Boluarte and the presidential palace early Saturday as a part of an “unlawful enrichment” investigation into information studies that she had been seen carrying Rolex watches since taking workplace.
The raid, which got here as Peruvians have been celebrating the Holy Week vacation, shocked many individuals, even in a rustic that has grown accustomed over the previous twenty years to politicians investigated for alleged corruption.
Before midnight on Good Friday, the police used a battering ram to pressure their approach into Ms. Boluarte’s house in Lima, based on reside protection on Latina Noticias. Prosecutors and the police then searched Ms. Boluarte’s workplace and residence within the presidential palace.
The president had failed to seem this week for a scheduled appointment with prosecutors to point out them three Rolex watches she has worn and to clarify how she obtained them. She additionally refused to permit them into her home to execute a search warrant, based on Attorney General Juan Villena, who informed lawmakers that her refusal was “a transparent indicator of rebellion.”
The investigation into Ms. Boluarte began on March 18, after the net information program La Encerrona revealed that she had began carrying more and more costly watches, together with no less than one Rolex, since taking workplace in December 2022. Prosecutors suspect her of violating the nation’s legal guidelines in opposition to illegal enrichment and failing to declare property. In Peru, the elected authorities should report back to the federal government any property value greater than 10,300 soles, or about $2,774, and disclose any presents obtained from third events.
Local information shops have since reported that Ms. Boluarte has worn three different Rolex watches, in addition to a $50,000 Cartier bracelet, and that banking authorities have detected about $300,000 in deposits of unknown origin made to her private accounts earlier than she took workplace.
The mannequin of Rolex watches she has reportedly worn prices no less than $14,000, based on La Encerrona.
Ms. Boluarte has denied wrongdoing, however she has additionally declined to clarify the origin of the Rolexes publicly, saying only that the first Rolex watch that drew consideration was an merchandise “from long ago.” “It’s in my DNA to not be corrupt,” she told journalists on March 15. “What I have is the fruit of my efforts and my work.”
In a televised tackle on Saturday, Ms. Boluarte, flanked by ministers in her cupboard, blamed information shops for creating “smoke screens” that gas “chaos and uncertainty,” She known as on Peruvians to march to defend democracy.
“I’m an honest woman. I entered the presidential palace with clean hands, and that’s how I’ll leave in 2026,” she stated. “Let’s march today for truth and idealism and hug one another with a single heart.”
Ms. Boluarte’s surrogates have recommended different explanations. Hania Pérez de Cuéllar, her housing minister and the previous head of the company that protects mental property, recommended that the Rolex could be pretend and admitted to buying a counterfeit luxury watch herself on a visit to China. A lawyer for Ms. Boluarte stated early Saturday that she may need obtained the watches from a “fan” who wished to stay nameless.
Justice Minister Eduardo Arana known as the raids “unconstitutional” and “disproportionate” and appealed to lawmakers for “unity” within the face of what he described as an try to destabilize the federal government.
“Justice is being politicized,” he said in a news conference with different ministers. “The purpose is to rupture the government, democracy and institutionality.” He declined to reply questions from journalists.
It was unclear whether or not the Rolex controversy would value Ms. Boluarte key help.
The inside ministry, which controls the nationwide police, expressed help for her, saying in a post on X that it rejected “acts that affect the development of the country, cloaked in questionable judicial provisions.”
“We reaffirm our commitment to continue working for the country’s internal order,” the ministry wrote.
Some of Ms. Boluarte’s allies on the precise blamed her for letting the state of affairs escalate. And once-friendly information shops have adopted a extra vital stance, an indication that endurance could also be carrying skinny amongst her supporters.
The controversy over the Rolex watches comes because the financial system is flagging and starvation is rising in Peru, a rustic that gained worldwide reward for consolidating its democracy and driving a mining-fueled commodities increase to tug tens of millions of its residents from poverty.
Some political observers predicted that the scandal was the start of the tip for Ms. Boluarte’s authorities and that it was prone to open the door to a brand new spherical of political turmoil in a rustic that has had six presidents prior to now six years.
“Dina’s government is over,” the Peruvian political scientist Juan de la Puente said on X. “The spectacle is pitiful, as it was with Castillo. Both devaluated the highest office.”
The investigative information program Cuarto Poder reported that Ms. Boluarte wore one Rolex mannequin value greater than $18,000 throughout an occasion in February to handle poverty in weak populations.
According to a poll in January, Ms. Boluarte is the least widespread president in Latin America, with an approval score of simply 9 %.
A former civil servant turned politician for a Marxist celebration, she served as President Pedro Castillo’s vp. She succeeded him after he was impeached in 2022 and arrested for saying that he was taking on Congress and the justice system.
Ms. Boluarte’s resolution to interchange Mr. Castillo as an alternative of resigning — as she as soon as promised she would do to make approach for new elections — set off violent protests in opposition to her authorities in late 2022 and early 2023, with 49 civilians killed in police and navy crackdowns. She is presently below investigation by nationwide human rights prosecutors.
Ms. Boluarte can also be the co-author of a guide on human rights regulation that’s below investigation for plagiarism.
Before taking workplace, Ms. Boluarte earned $1,100 per 30 days as a bureaucrat with the state company that produces identification paperwork. As minister, she earned about $8,000 per 30 days, and as president makes a bit of over $4,000 per 30 days.
As the authorities retrieved bins from Ms. Boluarte’s residences, a lawmaker announced that her former leftist celebration had secured adequate help for a movement for an impeachment vote in Congress, the place Ms. Boluarte has relied on a coalition of right-wing and centrist events to outlive.
Although solely 26 votes are required for a movement to question, 87 votes — or two-thirds of the legislators — are wanted for passage.
Since 2016, when back-to-back corruption scandals began fueling high-stakes political battles in Peru, two presidents, Mr. Castillo and Martín Vizcarra, have been impeached. One, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, resigned to keep away from an impeachment vote. All dwelling former Peruvian presidents besides one, Francisco Sagasti, who ruled from late 2020 to mid-2021, have come below investigation for corruption or human rights abuses. In 2019, the previous president Alan García killed himself to keep away from arrest.
Congressman Alejandro Muñante, of the far-right Renovación Popular celebration, stated on X that Ms. Boluarte had accomplished herself no favors along with her silence in latest weeks.
“Staying quiet has cost the president a lot and will continue to do so if she keeps opting for this terrible defense strategy,” Mr. Muñante stated. “Boluarte still has time to clear this up. If she doesn’t, a new succession wouldn’t be at all crazy”
