Peru’s impeached interim President Jose Jeri (C) gestures along with his cupboard within the background as they stroll out of the Authorities Palace in Lima on February 17, 2026.
| Photograph Credit score: AFP
Peru’s Congress on Tuesday (February 17, 2026) impeached interim President Jose Jeri, the Latin American nation’s seventh head of state in 10 years and solely the newest toppled over graft claims.
Mr. Jeri, 39, was accused within the irregular hiring of a number of girls in his authorities, and of suspected graft involving a Chinese language businessman.
In workplace since final October, Mr. Jeri took over from unpopular chief Dina Boluarte, who was additionally impeached amid protests towards corruption and a wave of violence linked to organised crime.
Prosecutors final week opened an investigation into “whether or not the top of state exercised undue affect” in authorities appointments.
Mr. Jeri has protested his innocence.
Mr. Jeri — on the time the top of Peru’s unicameral parliament — was appointed final yr to serve out the rest of Ms. Boluarte’s time period, which runs till July, when a brand new President will take over following elections on April 12.
He’s constitutionally barred from searching for election.
Mr. Jeri has discovered himself within the highlight over claims revealed by investigative TV program Cuarto Poder that 5 girls had been improperly given jobs within the President’s Workplace and the Surroundings Ministry after assembly with Mr. Jeri.
Prosecutors mentioned there have been the truth is 9 girls.
Mr. Jeri can be underneath investigation for alleged “unlawful sponsorship of pursuits” following a secret assembly with a Chinese language businessman with business ties with the federal government.
Institutional disaster
Some observers have pointed to attainable politicking within the censure of Mr. Jeri simply weeks earlier than elections for which over 30 candidates — a report — have tossed their hat into the ring.
The candidate from the right-wing Common Renewal celebration, Rafael Lopez Aliaga, who leads in opinion polls, has been among the many most vocal in calling for Mr. Jeri’s ouster.
Congress is now set to elect its personal new chief on Wednesday to switch a caretaker within the put up. The brand new Parliament President will routinely take over as Peru’s interim President till July.
4 members of Congress have registered for the vote, together with Maria del Carmen Alva, former president of Congress in 2021 and a member of the Common Motion celebration.
Her opponents embrace left-wing congressman Jose Balcazar, veteran socialist Edgar Raymundo, and Hector Acuna, a consultant of a celebration tainted by corruption.
“Will probably be troublesome to discover a alternative with political legitimacy within the present Congress, with proof of mediocrity and robust suspicion of widespread corruption,” political analyst Augusto Alvarez informed AFP.
Peru has now burned by means of seven Presidents since 2016, a number of of them impeached, investigated or convicted of wrongdoing.
The South American nation can be gripped by a wave of extortion that has claimed dozens of lives, notably of bus drivers — some shot on the wheel if their firms refuse to pay safety cash.
In two years, the variety of extortion instances reported in Peru jumped greater than tenfold — from 2,396 to over 25,000 in 2025.
Printed – February 18, 2026 09:13 am IST