Crisis After Crisis: Does Anything Change in Peru After the Appointment of its 7th President in 9 Years?

José Jerí is appointed interim President of Peru, in a new chapter of corruption scandals from Power.

José Jerí assumes the presidency of Peru, also denounced for corruption. Photo Peru Congress

October 10, 2025

“To all Peruvians, the apologies of the case and a promise: the promise to begin to build and lay the foundations of a country that, from empathy, allows reconciliation among all Peruvians,” said Interim President José Jerí, although his words do not summon optimism about Peru’s future.

It is the seventh appointment in a period of nine years, which speaks of the institutional crisis, if one takes into account that the Peruvian Constitution establishes general elections every five years, although it also establishes the call for early elections.

Among the presidents in these nine years are Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016–2018), Martín Vizcarra (2018–2020), Manuel Merino (2020), Francisco Sagasti (2020–2021), Pedro Castillo (2021–2022) and Dina Boluarte, several of whom are facing judicial proceedings for alleged acts of corruption.

At this time the whereabouts of the dismissed Dina Boluarte is unknown, although it is speculated that she would be asking for asylum in the Embassy of Ecuador, unanimously dismissed by the legislators of Congress for permanent moral incapacity for not combating citizen insecurity.

This is a situation that keeps Peruvian society attentive, since the Money Laundering prosecutor Ángel Astocondor Villalobos, signed the request for an impediment to leave the country against Dina Boluarte. The document has already been sent to the court on duty.

However, popular organizations and young people of Generation Z in Peru had been carrying out important street mobilizations against Boluarte in rejection of measures and allegations of corruption, which transcended criticism of the policy of citizen insecurity.

Despite Boluarte’s dismissal

The analyst on security and drug trafficking issues, Jaime Antezana, warned that the vacancy of Dina Boluarte does not represent a real change in the country’s political scenario, considering that power continues to be concentrated in what he calls a “narco-criminal coalition” made up of various political forces in Congress.

According to Antezana, the now former president was “a decorative figure in the Executive,” while control of the government fell — according to his interpretation — to parties such as Fuerza Popular and Alianza para el Progreso, with the support of groups such as Renovación Popular, Podemos, Perú Libre and Avanza País.

In the article published by El Nuevo Diario, Antezana maintains that “the transitional government headed by Jerí “does not guarantee free or democratic elections” and called for social mobilization.

He highlighted the “march of sacrifice” from Pataz to Lima, scheduled for October 12, and the national strike called by Generation Z for the 15th of the same month.

Interim President José Jerí

José Jerí is a 38-year-old lawyer and congressman who became Peru’s new interim president early Friday morning, after a relatively discreet stint in Parliament by the latter marked by a rape complaint at the beginning of the year that was filed two months ago.

Jerí and another man were denounced by a woman who claimed to have suffered a sexual assault at a social gathering attended by the legislator on December 29, 2024 in the district of Canta, northeast of Lima.

Despite the filing of the complaint, shortly before he was elected president, the National Coordinator of Human Rights (CNDDHH) issued a statement in which it rejected his appointment. “It is important not to forget that no official with serious complaints or questions should assume the highest representation of the State.

The presidency of the Republic cannot fall to José Jerí, president of Congress, who was denounced for rape. Peru needs leadership with integrity. No more impunity from power,” said the human rights organization.

Since 2013 he has been affiliated with the right-wing Somos Perú party, a formation in which he held several positions. He ran a couple of times in the municipal elections to enter the Municipality of Lima but was not elected.

Despite having received only about 11,600 votes in the 2021 parliamentary elections, he became a congressman as a substitute for former President Martín Vizcarra (2018-2020), who was disqualified and who had received more than 200,000 votes for his part.

During his period as a congressman, local media revealed that Jerí faces alleged accusations of corruption when he belonged to the Budget Committee of the Parliament, for having benefited a project in the Cajamarca region.

The legacy of Fujimorism

Tracing Peru’s institutional crisis can be traced back to the 10-year period of government of Alberto Fujimori, who governed in the period between July 28, 1990 and November 21, 2000, divided into three consecutive terms.

In terms of public policy, the period combined pro-market reforms associated with the Washington Consensus—including liberalization and privatization—with serious controversies in human rights and justice involving the state apparatus. The end of the period occurred in 2000, after the dissemination of the so-called “vladivideos” and corruption scandals; Alberto Fujimori presented his resignation from Tokyo, which was rejected by Congress, which declared the vacancy due to “moral incapacity.”

The vladivideos are a collection of Peruvian videos in home format made by Vladimiro Montesinos (then presidential advisor to Alberto Fujimori) at the facilities of the National Intelligence Service (SIN). In these videos, Montesinos can be seen holding meetings and bribing important politicians, businessmen and media executives.

The revelation of the videos had a considerable impact in Peru comparable to the Watergate Scandal that triggered the end of Fujimorato. In 2004, Transparency International included Fujimori in comparative lists of high-level corruption, with estimates of illicit enrichment disseminated in reports and reported by secondary sources