Peru’s Congress votes to remove President Jose Jeri in latest shake-up

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Jeri is the latest in a series of Peruvian presidents to be removed from office by an act of Congress, after Dina Boluarte and Pedro Castillo.

Just four months into his term, Peru’s President Jose Jeri has been removed from office.

The decision was the result of a Tuesday vote from Peru’s Congress, which debated multiple corruption allegations against Jeri’s government.

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Jeri, a right-wing leader, was formerly the head of Congress. But in October, he took over the country’s presidency after his predecessor, Dina Boluarte, was impeached for “moral incapacity”.

Boluarte had replaced the last democratically elected president, Pedro Castillo, in December 2022 after he too was impeached.

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.

In Jeri’s case, the scandals largely concerned allegations that the right-wing leader was involved in influence-peddling. One of the most notable was informally dubbed “Chifagate”, after the Peruvian-Chinese fusion cuisine known as “chifa”.

“Chifagate” 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.

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.

Subsequent images showed Jeri visiting another one of Yang’s businesses, a wholesale store, this time in sunglasses.

Jeri has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has dismissed the meetings as get-togethers to discuss a Peruvian-Chinese friendship day — or as simple shopping trips for candy and food.

Yang has ties to the Peruvian government. Under Boluarte’s administration, he received a concession to build a hydroelectric plant, which has experienced delays and faced questions about its transparency.

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.

At Tuesday’s 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.

He faced a total of seven motions of censure against his presidency.

A new interim president is set to be sworn in on Wednesday.