By Marco Aquino, Lucinda Elliott and Alexander Villegas
LIMA, Feb 17 (Reuters) - After just four months in office, Jose Jeri joined Peru's long list of ousted presidents on Tuesday, becoming the third consecutive leader to be removed from office by Congress in the Andean nation.
Jeri, who vaulted into power in October after the sudden impeachment of his predecessor Dina Boluarte, was one of the youngest heads of state globally and had a swift and bumpy rise and fall from power.
Jeri, 39, became the
head of Congress last July and was next in line of succession after Boluarte's dismissal since she had no acting vice president. He was named Peru's seventh president since 2018.
But his stint in office was quickly overshadowed by controversies. The most notable was regarding secret meetings with Chinese businessman Zhihua Yang, who owns stores, an energy concession and was already under state scrutiny.
Jeri was filmed wearing a hoodie while meeting Yang in a Chinese restaurant, in a scandal that became dubbed "Chifagate," after the local name for Chinese restaurants.
The now-former president issued an apology following the meeting and said that no wrongdoing took place. Despite that, Jeri could not fight growing political pressure as the upcoming presidential elections loomed and politicians aimed to garner support among the crowded field.
"His legitimacy as president was always weak," said Martin Cassinelli, assistant director at the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center. The ouster, he added, was "less an act of justice" and "more an act of political self-interest by a congressional majority."
His short tenure notwithstanding, Jeri is not even Peru's shortest-serving president in this decade. In 2020, Interim President Manuel Merino resigned after less than a week in office following widespread anger and the deaths of two protesters.
Jeri's removal highlights Peru's ongoing political volatility ahead of the April presidential race.
"Unfortunately, for Peruvians, the electoral system will likely result in a fragmented election that is unlikely to yield the majorities necessary for the next president to govern without having to worry about a political impeachment," Cassinelli said.
Jeri was born to a middle-class family in the Peruvian capital Lima. He graduated from the state-run Federico Villarreal National University in 2014 and later earned a law degree from a private university in Lima.
Jeri joined conservative party Somos Peru in 2013 while studying law and twice ran unsuccessfully for municipal office in Lima.
In 2021, Jeri initially missed out on a congressional seat after his party won three seats in the legislature. But as the candidate from his party with the fourth-largest number of votes, he ended up taking the seat of Martin Vizcarra, who was disqualified from holding public office before being sworn into Congress. Vizcarra served as Peru's president from 2018 to 2020.
In January 2025, Jeri was accused of sexual assault by a woman who attended a party the month before. The case was shelved in August by the attorney general, citing a lack of evidence. Jeri has denied any wrongdoing.
As president, Jeri also faced controversy for awarding state contracts to women following late-night meetings with them in the presidential palace.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino in Lima; Additional reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Mexico City; Writing by Lucinda Elliott and Alexander VillegasEditing by Christian Plumb, Rosalba O'Brien and Matthew Lewis)
