<\/p>\nListen to this article<\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span>1 min<\/span><\/p>\n<\/button>info<\/title><path class=\"icon-main-color\" d=\"M12 0a12 12 0 1 0 0 24 12 12 0 0 0 0-24Zm-.226 3.225a2.039 2.039 0 0 1 2.155 1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Just four months into his term, Peru\u2019s President Jose Jeri has been impeached and removed from office.<\/p>\n<p>The decision was the result of a Tuesday vote from Peru\u2019s Congress, which debated multiple corruption allegations against Jeri\u2019s government.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Jeri, a right-wing leader, was formerly the head of Congress. But in October, he took over the country\u2019s presidency after his predecessor, Dina Boluarte, was impeached for \u201cmoral incapacity\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Boluarte had replaced the last democratically elected president, Pedro Castillo, in December 2022 after he too was impeached.<\/p>\n<p>Jeri was the seventh president in a decade to lead Peru. Many of his predecessors have been mired in scandal, forcing them to step down or face impeachment.<\/p>\n<p>In Jeri\u2019s case, the scandals largely concerned allegations that the right-wing leader was involved in influence-peddling. One of the most notable was informally dubbed \u201cChifagate\u201d, after the Peruvian-Chinese fusion cuisine known as \u201cchifa\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChifagate\u201d emerged after Peruvian media published video of Jeri attending a late-night meeting with a Chinese businessman, Zhihua Yang, at his restaurant in Lima. The meeting was not included on the official presidential agenda, as required under Peruvian law.<\/p>\n<p>Jeri appeared to be in disguise in the video, wearing informal clothing including a deep hoodie that partially obscured his face, which spurred further questions about the nature of the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>Subsequent images showed Jeri visiting another one of Yang\u2019s businesses, a wholesale store, this time in sunglasses.<\/p>\n<p>Jeri has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has dismissed the meetings as get-togethers to discuss a Peruvian-Chinese friendship day \u2014 or as simple shopping trips for candy and food.<\/p>\n<p>Yang has ties to the Peruvian government. Under Boluarte\u2019s administration, he received a concession to build a hydroelectric plant, which has experienced delays and faced questions about its transparency.<\/p>\n<p>The meetings between Yang and Jeri also reportedly included a third Chinese businessman, Jiwu Xiaodong, who was placed under house arrest for engaging in illegal activities.<\/p>\n<p>At Tuesday\u2019s congressional debate, Jeri also faced questions about late-night meetings he took with women who later received government contracts and other irregular interactions he had. Jeri has also faced accusations of sexual assault, stretching back to December 2024.<\/p>\n<p>He faced a total of seven motions of censure against his presidency. Ultimately, 75 members of Peru\u2019s Congress backed the measure to remove Jeri, while three abstained and a further 24 voted against the proposal.<\/p>\n<p>A new interim president is set to be voted upon during Wednesday evening, around 6pm local time (23:00 GMT).<\/p>\n<p>Jeri\u2019s removal marks a new chapter in the turmoil facing Peru\u2019s government. The country is less than two months away from an April 12 general election, which will help decide its next president.<\/p>\n<p>If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote in that election, the race will proceed to a run-off in June.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, the field is packed, with at least 36 candidates vying for the presidency. Election observers fear that whoever wins could face the same quick-fire impeachment proceedings that their predecessors have endured.<\/p>\n<p>Presidents in Peru have often faced accusations of \u201cmoral incapacity\u201d, a pathway to impeachment that critics have denounced as overly vague.<\/p>\n<p>Jeri\u2019s impeachment comes within months of several high-profile court decisions against former presidents.<\/p>\n<p>In November, former President Martin Vizcarra, who served from 2018 to 2020, was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being convicted of accepting bribes for government contracts.<\/p>\n<p>Then, in December, Castillo received a sentence of 11 years and five months for his conviction on charges of rebellion and conspiracy against the state.<\/p>\n<p>Castillo, a left-wing leader, had been facing a third impeachment attempt in December 2022, when he attempted what many describe as a self-coup. Within hours, members of his cabinet had resigned, and Congress had impeached him.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors in Peru have said they plan to continue investigations into Jeri on corruption charges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a01 min info Just four months into his term, Peru\u2019s President Jose Jeri has been impeached and removed from office. The decision was the result of a Tuesday vote from Peru\u2019s Congress, which debated multiple corruption allegations against Jeri\u2019s government. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Jeri, a right-wing leader, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latin-america-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}