Luxury watches, searches and demand for impeachment. Peru is once again shaken by a political scandal calling into question the stability of the government led by Dina Boluarte. The Peruvian president had to replace six ministers – out of the 18 making up the government team – having suddenly announced their resignation on Monday April 1 after the opening of an investigation involving the head of state. Their replacements were sworn in in the middle of the night.
Peru's public prosecutor's office accuses the president of alleged illicit enrichment linked to luxury watches that she is suspected of not having declared as part of her assets. The scandal, nicknamed "Rolexgate" in the press, broke out in mid-March, after the revelations of the media La Encerrona on the wearing of Rolex brand watches and their mysterious origin, when Dina Boluarte was in government in 2021 and 2022.
After surprise searches carried out on Saturday, the prosecution ordered the president to present the watches in her possession at a future summons. Until now, Dina Boluarte claims to have “clean hands” and only owns one watch, a model that is not recent and purchased with her savings.
Accusations of corruption and political instability
Unelected, Dina Boluarte is an interim president, who came to power after the failed “self-coup” of President Pedro Castillo and his dismissal in December 2022. “During her interim period, Dina Boluarte is supposed to embody neutrality and not behave like someone who perpetuates the system,” recalls Lissell Quiroz, historian and professor of Latin American studies at CY Cergy Paris University. "However, this scandal and the resignation of ministers ultimately reveal the recurring structural problems of Peru: the accession of personalities who are not at all exemplary, or even who are corrupt, to the highest position in the State, and at the same time political instability."
Over the past 32 years, all but two of Peru's presidents have been imprisoned or indicted for corruption. And the echo of the scandal surrounding the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, involving large-scale bribery among political elites, including former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, still resonates.
This scandal led to his dismissal and triggered a waltz of presidents in less than five years: Martin Vizcarra from March 2018 to November 2020, Manuel Merino for five days in November 2020, Francisco Sagasti from November 2020 to July 2021. July 28, 2021 , Peruvians elect Pedro Castillo, who will be dismissed on December 7, 2022 and replaced by his vice-president, Dina Boluarte.
Former presidents are also implicated in the Odebrecht scandal: Ollanta Humala, president from 2011 to 2016; Alan Garcia, two-time president, who committed suicide in 2019 just before his arrest on corruption charges; and Alejandro Toledo, president from 2001 to 2006, extradited by the United States last year.
Also read: Alan Garcia, the Peruvian president who has always fled justice
In the eyes of Peruvians, “Rolexgate” is just another episode impacting a completely disowned political class. A recent poll by the Institute of Peruvian Studies reveals that 63% of them have little or no interest in politics, reports Forbes Peru.
“Very great hostility towards the political and economic elites has been brewing for a long time in Peru,” explains Gaspard Estrada, political scientist at Sciences Po, specialist in Latin America. “There are the corruption scandals, obviously, but also the Covid-19 pandemic. The latter has revealed the fragilities of the State, incapable of translating its good macroeconomic management into effective social policies, thus aggravating inequalities and poverty ."
A Congress in a position of strength
This feeling of distrust has also weakened the Peruvian political regime, which today is no longer truly presidential. Power now resides in Congress, composed of a single chamber, which makes it almost impossible for a president to be in office when the opposition is in the majority. “The political stability of the country therefore depends on the alliances and power games within Congress, which holds the authority to dismiss presidents and choose their replacements,” explains Lissell Quiroz.
For the expert, impeachment "has become a tool of political struggle in Peru, allowing an opposition group to take power by placing its own representative at the head of state. But this only fuels a vicious cycle of impeachments and instability."
On Saturday, the left-wing Free Peru party, the party of ex-president Pedro Castillo, still incarcerated since his dismissal in 2022, also filed a motion for dismissal against Dina Boluarte. But not having a majority in Congress, dominated by the right and the extreme right, the procedure has little chance of succeeding.
"Beyond the departure of Dina Boluarte, which would not necessarily have any structural consequences, it is a question of strengthening the institutions so that they respond effectively to the needs of Peruvian society, which is not the case today", analyzes Gaspard Estrada.
Also readCrisis in Peru: the “country has been ungovernable for years”
Elections in sight
Initially brought forward to April 2024, the presidential and legislative elections will finally take place in 2026, at the end of the mandate that Dina Boluarte's predecessor should have served.
“Certain political groups could exploit this situation to further discredit the presidential office before the elections, by presenting themselves as more honest alternatives,” explains Lissell Quiroz. "It wouldn't be surprising to see a discourse emerge that attacks perceived corruption, using the rhetoric 'We are different, we are honest' to stand out."
In addition to “Rolexgate,” Dina Boluarte is currently under investigation for “genocide, aggravated homicide and serious injury.” The dismissal and arrest of his predecessor in December 2022 was followed by massive demonstrations by his supporters, mainly from indigenous communities. A movement harshly repressed by the executive, which caused the death of around fifty people. If proceedings are brought against her, the president cannot be judged before July 2026, the date of the end of her mandate, according to the Constitution.
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