Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Monday replaced six ministers after they resigned as her government is rocked by a political crisis fueled by an alleged illicit enrichment scandal involving luxury watches.
The Cabinet shakeup came as lawmakers submitted to parliament a request to remove her from office for “permanent moral incapacity” three days after police broke down the front door of her residence to search for the watches as part of an investigation.
The request was submitted by lawmakers from various parties, including Peru Libre to which Boluarte once belonged. To remove Boluarte, the move requires 87 votes from the 130-seat unicameral parliament, and so far, five parties that together have 54 votes expressed support for the president following the raid.
Photo: Reuters
Boluarte is being preliminarily investigated for allegedly acquiring an undisclosed collection of luxury watches since becoming vice president and social inclusion minister in July 2021 and then president in December 2022.
Lawmakers in their request to remove her from office cite the investigation against Boluarte as well as countrywide problems, such as rising crime.
She has denied the illicit enrichment accusations.
Late on Friday, armed police officers broke down the front door of Boluarte’s house with a battering ram in search of Rolex watches. The raid marked the first time in Peru’s history that police forcibly entered the home of a sitting president.
The probe began in the middle of last month after a TV show spotlighted Boluarte wearing a Rolex watch worth up to US$14,000 in Peru. Other TV shows later mentioned at least two more Rolexes.
Boluarte, a 61-year-old lawyer, was a modest district official before entering then-Peruvian president Pedro Castillo’s government on a monthly salary of US$8,136 in July 2021. Boluarte later assumed the presidency with a lower salary of US$4,200 per month. Shortly thereafter, she began to display the luxury watches.
She did not list the three watches in an obligatory asset declaration form.
On Monday, Boluarte initially lost three Cabinet members when the ministers of the interior, education and women abruptly resigned.
Victor Torres told reporters his resignation as interior minister was due to a family matter, while the heads of the ministry of women Nancy Tolentino, and of education Miriam Ponce did not offer reasons in the announcements they shared on social media.
Their resignations were followed by the ministers of agriculture, production and foreign trade stepping down.
On announcing his resignation, Torres warned that if Boluarte leaves power “the country will sink.”
Boluarte then swore in six new ministers, including Walter Ortiz, a retired police officer who had previously been director against organized crime, as interior minister. The Cabinet has 18 ministries, in addition to the position of prime minister held by Gustavo Adrianzen.
She also swore in Elizabeth Caldo, a former executive at telecommunications giant Telefonica, as her new foreign trade minister, and Morgan Quero as her education minister.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese