Last Week, Peru was embroiled in another political corruption scandal. Known as “Rolexgate,” According to a report in The Guardian, it emerged that President Dina Boluarte, who came into office on an anti-corruption platform, had amassed a collection of jewelry, including several Rolex watches valued at $500,000. Boluarte’s presidential salary is listed at only $3,000 a month, so how exactly she amassed such a valuable collection is anyone’s guess. According to a report in Le Monde, Peruvian prosecutors have charged Boluarte with illicit enrichment and failure to disclose assets. Boluarte’s defense is ever-shifting. Firstly, she claimed the Rolexes were the “fruit of my labor,” stating that she had worked since she was 18 years of age; then she said that she accepted the watches as a loan from a provincial governor, which the governor almost certainly would have asked for something in return. No matter what her explanation is, the whole affair seems dodgy.
Tag: Peru
Ex-Peruvian President Toledo deported from the U.S. to Face Corruption Charges.
Recently, the former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo, who served from 2001 to 2006, arrived back in Peru after exhausting all legal avenues in the U.S. to avoid extradition. Peru is a country with a recent history of corrupt presidents; there have been no less than four former presidents that have faced serious allegations of misconduct. According to The Guardian, Toledo allegedly accepted $35 million from the notorious Brazilian construction company Odebrecht to win a construction contract to build a highway connecting Brazil and Peru. Odebrecht was involved in a massive corruption scandal in Brazil called Operation Car Wash that involved many Brazilian politicians and public figures taking bribes. Toledo will likely join Alberto Fujimori, Pablo Kuczynski, and Pedro Castillo in jail on corruption charges.
The Downfall of the Corrupt Castillo Government in Peru
Recently in Peru, a constitutional crisis erupted when President Pedro Castillo was ousted from office. According to an article by ABC News, Castillo attempted to dissolve parliament to hold on to power and avoid elections. There had been reports in Peru that corruption had festered within the Castillo administration among some of his ministers. The Peruvian congress was getting ready to attempt to impeach Castillo for the third time when he tried to dissolve parliament. According to the Washington Post, Castillo was detained immediately and escorted out of the presidential palace.
Castillo’s replacement is his former vice president Dina Boluarte. According to the AP, Boluarte plans on instituting a robust anti-corruption platform as a part of her time in office. She has made all her ministers stand against government malfeasance as a requirement of serving in her cabinet. The hope has to be that Boluarte can bring unity to the country and quell the ongoing protests. It is still an open question if she forms a successful enough coalition to stay in power long term.
Crispin Corruption Report 