Posted on 02/18/2026 8:26:09 PM PST by SeekAndFind
This is a little different than your average South American change-of-command story, though. Usually, those spur-of-the-moment administration oustings are more in the form of uprisings or military takeovers, oftentimes with bullets, bloodshed, and the streets packed with pissed-off peasants registering either their contempt or their support for one side or the other.
Not so in this instance, thankfully, although the president in office who was summarily removed probably didn't have enough time to become an emotional favorite of anyone.
In Perú, three-quarters of the Congress just voted to REMOVE the president due to - get this - undeclared meetings with Chinese businessmen. 🇨🇳
We'd have no Liberals in office if we had the same standards here.
pic.twitter.com/3MjkAkVorn— HoCStaffer (@HoCStaffer) February 17, 2026
José Jerà got the office the same way he is being forced to leave - through his predecessor's removal this past October.
Hard to build a lasting legacy with only four months in office.
Peru’s Congress voted on Tuesday to impeach President José Jerà after he failed to disclose meetings with Chinese businessmen who were under government scrutiny, the latest upheaval in a country that has cycled through leaders with striking speed.
Mr. JerĂ, 39, the former head of Congress, took office as interim president in October after presiding over the removal of his predecessor. He is the sixth Peruvian president in the past decade to leave office before their term ended. One stepped down within days of taking office.
It also seems to be a bit of a challenge to keep a president's gig in Peru once you get it, but it sure would help if, once you did, you followed the rules. They're not that hard.
...The impeachment followed the release last month of three videos showing Mr. Jerà entering a restaurant and convenience store in Lima owned by Yang Zhihua, a wealthy Chinese businessman who has come under government scrutiny. Local outlets reported that one of Mr. Yang’s stores had been ordered closed for violating a municipal ordinance; three days later a national regulatory body overturned the law that led to the closure.
Mr. Jerà acknowledged that the videos were authentic. Peruvian law requires presidents to log their official activities, and he did not report the visits to Mr. Yang’s establishments, Mr. Jerà admitted under questioning from lawmakers last month.
During that questioning he declined to provide his phone records and said he had known Mr. Yang before becoming president. He added that the businessman had refused to let him pay for some candy and paintings he bought “because he was being kind to me.”
The 'he's just a nice guy' excuse about the Chinese businessman carried no water with his former Peruvian legislative colleagues, and they opened an investigation into JerĂ's activities. That quickly led to another JerĂ connection to a more sinister local Chinese character.
...The controversy widened when Cuarto Poder, a television program that first broadcast the videos, reported that another Chinese businessman, Ji Wu Xiaodong — who is under house arrest while being investigated for alleged ties to an illegal logging network — had visited the presidential palace three times during Mr. JerĂ’s tenure. The president told lawmakers that Mr. Ji Wu was a friend of Mr. Yang’s and said he did not know him well.
It turns out that, besides the Chinese coming and going, there were hanky-panky allegations of JerĂ's female acquaintances coming and then staying on as hired help in the president's administration, as...something.
For... whatever the job description was.
...Jeri was ousted over corruption allegations and for hiring young women who’d stayed overnight with him and whom critics saw as unqualified for their roles. But the ouster of the interim president took place just as the election cycle is heating up, with Peruvians set to vote for a new president in April and later in a likely run-off in June.
Well, he's a looker, no doubt, and I'll bet he was just puttin' on the Ritz a little - trying to stay busy and make as many people happy as possible in the short time he had the job.
Peru’s President José Jerà was ousted by congress after just four months in office, as lawmakers forced him out for failing to declare meetings with Chinese businessmen and for allegedly hiring unqualified young women to work with him https://t.co/JRS92sMyYP— Bloomberg (@business) February 17, 2026
As for that upcoming election on April 12, there are two 'conservatives' running, so the rightward trend we've been seeing throughout the region is holding fast.
...The latest voter opinion polls show two conservative leading the field, though by the slimmest of margins. Rafael Lopez Aliaga — a former mayor of Lima and leader of the Popular Renovation party — is polling first and positioned his congressional bloc to support Jeri’s ouster. But Keiko Fujimori — a three-times presidential runner up who leads the Popular Force party — is polling second and her lawmakers argued for keeping Jeri in power.
“This could be a pivotal inflection point in the electoral campaign as the two leading right-wing candidates have positioned themselves at the opposite sides of the tussle,” wrote analysts at LarrainVial led by Head of Equity Strategy Luis Ramos.
In an Ipsos poll published this week before Jeri’s removal, Lopez Aliaga led a wide-open field of 36 candidates with 12% of the vote, followed by Fujimori with 8%.
The only problem with the Peruvian system is its inherently unstable nature. You can be elected, but the legislature can boot you out and elect their own choice just as easily. That instability is reflected in policy incoherence. A weakened presidency has yet to ripple throughout the economy or in Peru's dealings internationally, but it always has the potential to do so.
...The impeachment “underscores the growing fragility of the country’s presidency relative to its legislative body — the country’s dominant power center. As Peruvians prepare to go to the polls on April 12, there is little indication the country will break from the political instability that has defined the past decade. A durable consensus around macroeconomic stability means the economic and financial outlook remains relatively insulated from chronic political turmoil. Still, the instability will continue to weigh on growth policy agendas.”
No one seems very concerned about another Peruvian president down and out. It's simply the way things are done.
...Jeri’s removal “is far from a risk event and at this stage forms part of the institutional political status quo in Peru,” wrote Ramos.
The next batter up as interim president until the election settles out will also come from Congress, as JerĂ did. There are four candidates vying for the truncated term, two from each party, conservative and left-wing. Voting for the new president is scheduled to start this evening.
Unless they are truly outrageous criminals, whoever triumphs should be able to finish out their tiny term before the local TV station can get any undercover video on them ready.
Then again, I'm not selling anyone short.
Beege UPDATES:Â Looks like they got it done and the votes counted by close of business tonight, and HO, BOY.
83-year-old JosĂ© MarĂa Balcázar Zelada will be president for five months and his reputation for shall we say 'interesting things' makes JerĂ's little hired friends'wqith'benfits look like Girl Scouts.
The official announcement looks like this.
#CongresoInforma | Con 64 votos, el congresista JosĂ© MarĂa Balcázar Zelada ha sido elegido presidente del Congreso de la RepĂşblica.
En consecuencia, asumirá la encargatura de la Presidencia de la República del Perú.
pic.twitter.com/oY8GhnAX1j— Congreso del Perú 🇵🇪 (@congresoperu) February 19, 2026
With 64 votes, congressman JosĂ© MarĂa Balcázar Zelada has been elected president of the Congress of the Republic. Consequently, he will assume the interim role of the Presidency of the Republic of Peru.
Everyone else looks like this:
José Balcázar, newly elected President of Peru, is a proponent of child marriage.
He was the sole MP who did not vote for the law banning child marriage, arguing for the benefits of "early sexual relations".
pic.twitter.com/nyEGbm1u2d— Crazy Ass Moments in LatAm Politics (@AssLatam) February 19, 2026
And this.
🇵🇪 | URGENTE — JosĂ© MarĂa Balcazar es el nuevo presidente de PerĂş, elegido por el Congreso.
Esta investigado por fraude, estafa, suplantaciĂłn de identidad, sobornos y prevaricato.
Se ha pronunciado a favor del matrimonio infantil y de tener relaciones con niñas de 14 años.
pic.twitter.com/sWd2MEqmqg— AgustĂn Antonetti (@agusantonetti) February 19, 2026
URGENT — JosĂ© MarĂa Balcázar is the new president of Peru, elected by Congress. He is under investigation for fraud, scam, identity theft, bribery, and prevarication. He has spoken in favor of child marriage and of having sexual relations with girls aged 14.
And this.
PerĂş tiene nuevo presidente, se trata del marxista JosĂ© MarĂa Balcazar, miembro del partido del comunista Pedro Castillo.
Ha sido acusado de:
Prevaricato
Fraude
Estafa
SuplantaciĂłn de identidad
Cohecho (sobornos)
Entre otros, y se ha declarado a favor del matrimonio entre… pic.twitter.com/oJyN2uEXwL— Emmanuel Rincón (@EmmaRincon) February 19, 2026
Peru has a new president, it is the Marxist JosĂ© MarĂa Balcázar, member of the communist Pedro Castillo's party.
He has been accused of:
Prevaricato  [Beege ADDS:  perversion of the course of justice]
Fraud Â
Embezzlement Â
Identity theft Â
Bribery (cohecho/sobornos)
Among others, and he has declared himself in favor of marriage between adults and minors.
This should be an interesting couple of months.
AY DIOS MIO
This is Beege at HotAIr's Latin American Election HQ, signing off.
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These are presidents in name only - more like prime ministers, who serve at the pleasure of their cabinets instead of the other way around.
Peru actually is “below the Equator”, unlike Venezuela.
AOC should be impressed.
The new president seems to be an advocate for early experience “below the equator.”
My daughter’s snooty private school had a sixth grade science class trip to Peru every year. A parent had to go and I got elected. The first half of the trip was down the Amazon so we didn’t do that part, as my daughter hates spiders. The second half was Machu Pichu so we did that half.
It was interesting, but unlike US National Parks, Machu Pichu is not safe, there are no railings, someone falls and gets killed every year, there are germs and you have to bring antibiotics with you in case you get sick, you can’t drink the water, soldiers walk around with rifles on the streets, houses have walls with barbed wire or sharp glass on the top to slow down thieves and it is a third world country. We brought suitcases full of shoes for the children there. That was over ten years ago. Who knows what, if any improvements have happened.
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