Dina Boluarte has chosen to resist at any price at the head of Peru. The president who replaced Pedro Castillo in December 2022 after he attempted a self-coup d'état does not want to leave power. Tremendously unpopular, various social sectors have insistently asked her to resign and call elections so that Peruvians can elect a president at the polls. That was her intention during the early stages of her government, or at least that's what she said. Now, however, she assures that she will serve out her term until 2026.
The reality is that it will do so in very precarious conditions. He has the support of Congress, which always turned its back on Castillo, that is true, but his credibility is very low. A latest scandal over the watches she has worn during her time in office has put her on the ropes. Boluarte has appeared with 17 high-end pieces, including a Rolex valued at $19,000, the existence of which she had not reported in her asset declaration. The Financial Intelligence Unit of the Superintendency of Banking and Insurance of Peru has detected large unjustified movements in her bank accounts and the Prosecutor's Office is investigating her for alleged illicit enrichment.
Boluarte remains in the presidential seat thanks to the supposed opposition, Fujimorism, even more so since he supported the release of autocrat Alberto Fujimori after years of judicial entanglement due to the humanitarian pardon he received years ago. Fujimori himself has taken it for granted that they will support her until the end. The president has become the antithesis of what she herself symbolized as vice president when Castillo won the elections. After the fall of his right-hand man, Alberto Otárola, involved in a sexual harassment scandal, Boluarte appointed a new prime minister, Gustavo Adrianzén, who on Wednesday overcame a vote of confidence in Congress with a strong-arm speech, to the way of Daniel Noboa in Ecuador or Nayib Bukele in El Salvador. There is no trace of the leftist project that brought Castillo and her team to the Government: the illusion of change and inclusion of the poor in political decision-making.
As first president, Castillo behaved erratically and irresponsibly, but that does not justify his successor governing now, even precariously, from values contrary to those endorsed at the polls. Peru has demonstrated institutional and economic strength by enduring the attacks that its last presidents have received, most of whom have ended up dead or imprisoned. However, the best solution to get out of the current government discredit would be for Boluarte to fulfill his promise, call elections and not cling to power held by parties that have been hindering the governability of the country for years.