Recently, some residents of Peru have made statements that their president, Dina Boluarte, is illegally receiving money, luxurious watches, and decorations. However, in practice, lawmakers are busy enacting laws that weaken control from other branches of government, protecting the financial interests of lawmakers and their friends. According to a report by a non-governmental organization 'Freedom House', published in March and based in Washington, which lowered Peru's ranking from 'predominantly free' to 'partly free'.
Most of Boluarte's professional life was spent in a senior public service role and she did not present herself as a national leader until she was elected deputy of then-president Pedro Castillo in 2021, a teacher and a union leader, who advanced in the presidential elections from the 'Peru Libre' party, a small party of Marxist orientation.
The case of 'Rolex-gate' marked the beginning of the current decline in Boluarte's popularity. Observers joke that the president helped her people only in order to unite them in their dislike for her, and the visible weaknesses and failures of the president led to the idea that her survival depended on one opinion: 'No one loves Dina'.
At the press conference in the government palace on April 5, 2024, Boluarte promoted rings and bracelets that she wore. Her popularity did not drop below 20%, but reached a historic minimum due to widespread crime and extortion, which brought Lima to the brink of chaos.
The Boluarte government has been proposing symbolic measures for restoring order, but the president herself was notably not inclined towards public appearances, as 100 days went by without communicating directly with journalists. Peruvian journalist Marco Sefuentes stated that mainly they 'do not respect the president, and people understand this perfectly'.
Despite the left-leaning orientation, Boluarte remained in power thanks to an unusual coalition of disparate parties. Around the middle of May, members of Paraguay's congress encountered criminal investigations for corruption, according to the new site InfoBee.
In April, after the political podcast 'La Inserona' reported on the strange amount of luxury watches that Boluarte wore in public appearances, the police searched her home at the request of prosecutors for checks, not specifying whether it was illegal or whether she received bribes. The release of the law defining 'organized crime' and requiring the presence of a lawyer during police searches drew criticism for presenting the president with valuable time for destruction of streets.
