Luxury watches on your wrist, searches in the middle of the night, demands for the dismissal of President Dina Boluarte and resignations of several ministers… But what has been happening in Peru for the past month? 20 minutes summarizes the affair that the press called “Rolexgate”.
The starting point: Photos of the president with Rolexes on her wrist
The scandal broke out on March 15, after a local news site, La Encerronapublished a series of photos showing Dina Boluarte sporting different luxury watches while in government in 2021 and 2022. She became president after the impeachment in early December 2022 and the arrest of the left-wing head of state, Pedro Castillo, of which she was vice-president.
According to journalists, the president of Peru owns 14 luxury watches, such as Rolexes, hence the name “Rolexgate”. The major problem? She would not have declared these jewels in her assets.
“Show” searches that yielded nothing
Following this publication, the country’s public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for “illicit enrichment” and “non-declaration of use of Rolex watches”. On March 30, the president’s home was searched in the middle of the night, notably after agents forced the door open using an iron bar, according to television images. Other footage shows police surround his home and form a human barrier to prevent car traffic from adjacent streets. The president denounced this search which she described as “arbitrary, disproportionate and abusive”. A few hours later, the government headquarters was also searched, “in accordance with the court order”.
The day after these operations, the public prosecutor indicated that the watches sought had not been found but that “other elements of interest for the investigation were obtained”. He summoned Dina Boluarte to present her Rolexes, during a summons the following week where she will be heard. For her part, she claimed to have “clean hands” and only owned an old watch, bought with her savings.
Attorney General Juan Villena subsequently announced that the investigation now also focused on jewelry, including a Cartier bracelet worth $56,000, and bank deposits of some $270,000 between 2021 and 2022.
Six ministers resign from the government and the opposition calls for the dismissal of the President
On April 1, six of the 18 government ministers announced their resignation: the Minister of the Interior, Victor Torres, in office since November 21, 2023, but also the ministers of Education, Women, and Agrarian Development. , Production and Foreign Trade. The wave of resignations came on the eve of the inauguration vote for the new Prime Minister, Gustavo Adrianzen, and his government.
Two days later, on Thursday, the Peruvian Parliament rejected two impeachment requests filed by the left-wing opposition. The two motions “were not admitted” to debate, having not received at least 48 votes. Since coming to power in December 2022, Dina Boluarte has been the subject of four requests for impeachment. None has yet been admitted to debate by the unicameral Parliament.
Dina Boluarte heard and watches seized
Last Friday, Dina Boluarte was heard by the prosecutor for five and a half hours. After her hearing, she said the luxury watches in question had been lent to her by a friend, governor of the Andean region of Ayacucho, acknowledging that it was “a mistake” to accept them. She assured that she had “already returned” the Rolexes to this friend. During her interrogation, she denied possessing jewelry such as the Cartier bracelet.
But on Wednesday, Peruvian prosecutors said they had seized three luxury Rolex watches and a heart bracelet during a presentation of the jewelry to the courts. “The prosecution decided to proceed with a seizure, without a court decision. The argument is that the goods could be lost,” Humberto Abanto, lawyer for the governor of the Andean region of Ayacucho, Wilfredo Oscorima, who allegedly lent the jewelry to Dina Boluarte, told the press.
Under the Constitution, in the event of prosecution, the president cannot be tried before July 2026, the date of the end of her mandate. Dina Boluarte is also the subject of an investigation for “genocide, aggravated homicide and serious injury” after the death of more than fifty people during the two months of social unrest which accompanied her accession to the head of Peru.