Dina Boluarte's bombproof survival instinct

The survival instinct is the main quality that political analysts recognize in Dina Boluarte, a president who in fifteen months in office has not been able to gain the sympathy or approval of Peruvians.

In its most critical moments, between the end of 2022 and the first months of 2023, when a majority group of the population took to the streets to demand an early election, Alberto Otárola's shield was always available to her.

Boluarte had assumed the Presidency of the Republic after Pedro Castillo's failed self-coup.

That she did not understand her mandate as her provisional one frayed the spirits of the electorate of the union teacher and of the other Peru, the one that Lima, the capital, usually sees from a distance.

Boluarte survived the storm, but at a bloody cost: 49 protesters died due to the repression of the law enforcement forces.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and organizations such as Human Rights investigated the cases and determined that “extrajudicial executions” had occurred and that the attacks qualify as a “massacre.”

Some leaders of the region, such as the Mexican Andrés Manuel López Obrador or the Colombian Gustavo Petro, expressed their categorical rejection.

Despite warnings from the international community, Dina Boluarte continued.

In those days it was Otárola who defended her tooth and nail, with the following arguments: “she cannot resign because she has to defend the democratic system”, “the country cannot be left in the hands of the violent” and “the Prosecutor's Office will do the corresponding investigations.”

That squire is no longer at your disposal.

Faced with her accusations of having harassed and favored a worker with State resources, Dina Boluarte was forced to ask for her resignation letter.

This Wednesday, Gustavo Adrianzén, Peru's representative to the OAS, was sworn in to replace him.

This is his third president of the Council of Ministers.

The first was the lawyer Pedro Angulo who only lasted a couple of weeks in the position.

Dina Boluarte with Alberto Otárola, on February 10, 2023 at the Government Palace of Lima.Martin Mejia (AP)

Political scientists agree that it is a shock that aggravates the weakness of the Executive.

An Executive with several debts: citizen insecurity, a deficient health system, social conflicts, among others.

“Alberto Otárola has been key for this Government.

He was not only the political operator, but also the experienced man.

The one who seemed to rule was him.

He hid the serious deficiencies of the President and his departure from the Cabinet opens a crisis.

A new political moment is opening for the government of Dina Boluarte,” says Fernando Tuesta, in the newspaper El Comercio.

In effect, Otárola had a much broader expertise, he had already been a public official in previous governments and, therefore, he has a greater command of political discourse.

Furthermore, Otárola had been Boluarte's lawyer before she crossed the presidential line, when questioned about her presiding over the Apurímac departmental Club while she served as Minister of Development and Inclusion.

Without her main bishop, Boluarte has denied the impact of her departure.

“The cabinet is not in crisis, the country is not in crisis.

We know that it is complex to administer our beloved homeland.

“We are strengthening our work and we are not going to stop for a moment,” she said.

Of course, Otárola was present at the swearing-in of a cabinet that only underwent a single change.

What's more, he posed for the photo, in a clear message that his relationship with the head of state has not been damaged.

Congresswoman Sigrid Bazán has expressed her disagreement.

“It is a mockery for all citizens and it shows that Mrs. Boluarte, far from distancing herself from being the questioned former premier, puts him next to her as a sign that nothing happened here.

Congress cannot give confidence to the same team that has done nothing for the country,” she criticized.

Dina Boluarte also took the opportunity to defend her brother Nicanor, accused of being one of the architects of an alleged plot to bring down Alberto Otárola.

In addition, she ruled out that her brother has a link with former president Martín Vizcarra, whom Otárola himself pointed out as one of those responsible for his fall.

“My brother is not involved in any plot and does not participate in the Government's decisions.

I am the president, with right decisions or not (...) Nicanor does not know Vizcarra.

“He is not part of this Government and will not be until 2026,” she insisted.

As for Gustavo Adrianzén, the new prime minister, it is alleged that he was chosen for having a profile very similar to that of Otárola, in addition to being a denier of the protesters who died in the protests.

In a hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, he had unkind words toward the mourners: “they are the violent ones, they are the ones who caused the deaths.”

For Congressman Carlos Anderson, Adrianzén is an imitation of Otárola.

“I hope it makes some difference.

Not having made any changes, and not having marked the field, basically makes it an imitation of the previous one.”

In this way, convulsed, Dina Boluarte faces her darkest days since the social upheaval.

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