Peru’s Congress Removes President Over Secret Meeting With Chinese Businessman
Udumbara
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Peru’s Congress on Feb. 17 ousted President José Jerí just four months into his term over a scandal involving undisclosed meetings with a Chinese businessman.
Seventy-five lawmakers voted in favor of removing Jerí, while 24 voted against, and three abstained. Congress voted to censure him, stripping him of his title as head of Congress by a simple majority.
Legislators will elect a new congressional leader on Feb. 18, who will step into the presidential role on an interim basis until elections take place on April 12.
Known locally as “Chifagate,” after the local term for Chinese restaurants, the controversy began last month when footage emerged of Jerí arriving late at night at a restaurant, wearing a hood, to meet Chinese businessman Zhihua Yang.
His meeting with Yang, who owns commercial stores and a concession for an energy project, and his failure to publicly disclose it as part of his official agenda, prompted criticism over a lack of transparency and potential corruption.
The now-former president issued an apology following the meeting and said that no wrongdoing took place.
His administration had faced further criticism over irregular hiring practices in his administration, including the appointment of several women to government positions following late-night meetings with them in the Presidential Palace.
Jerí assumed the presidency in October 2025 after Congress ousted his predecessor, Dina Boluarte, amid corruption allegations and public outrage over worsening crime.
Boluarte, who was ousted unanimously by the Legislature, had no acting vice president, paving the way for Jerí to assume the role.
Ruth Luque, one of the lawmakers who backed the censure measures, said she wanted to replace Jerí with a leader who would put public interest and security first, ahead of a new president coming into office.
“We ask to end this agony so we can truly create the transition citizens are hoping for,” she said. “Not a transition with hidden interests, influence-peddling, secret meetings and hooded figures. We don’t want that sort of transition.”
Some view the ouster as politically motivated.
Michael Shifter, president of Washington-based think tank Inter-American Dialogue, said, “It strikes me that there is no trace of high mindedness here, only electoral calculations. Enough lawmakers concluded their support for Jerí would hurt them in elections, so they had to act.”
While the current head of Congress, Fernando Rospigliosi, would be constitutionally next in line to become president, he has declined the role. As such, legislators will have to elect a new head of Congress who will then automatically assume the presidency.
Rospigliosi said parties have until 6 p.m. local time to present their candidates, and the Legislature would vote on a new president on Feb. 18.
