Peru's prosecutors target first female president and brother for corruption as past president faces rebellion charges

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte’s brother has been placed under arrest by regional authorities after investigators determined he was participating in an extensive political bribery scheme.

Boluarte, who has been serving as head of state since the past president, Pedro Castillo, was ousted after allegedly trying to unlawfully dissolve the Peruvian Congress amid impeachment proceedings.

Castillo, who currently faces charges of rebellion, is known as a Marxist politician, and while Boluarte has described herself as a “democratic leftist,” others have considered her conservative compared to her socialist opponents.”

She is the first woman to serve as president of the South American country, and her presidency has been wrought with challenges from opponents since she took over on Dec. 7, 2022.

Prosecutors now charge that the president’s brother, Nicanor Boluarte, abused authority granted to him by his sister to distribute federal funds to regional Peruvian leaders and municipal mayors in exchange for favors.

Nicanor Boluarte has denied the accusations, but Peruvian prosecutors have already cast a wide net in their investigation by issuing arrest warrants for 21 individuals including the president’s attorney, Mateo Castañeda.

The arrests come several weeks after police raided President Boluarte’s home after allegations arose that she was in possession of a collection of 10 watches valued at $502,700, which she purportedly declined to declare for public accountability purposes.

Castañeda, initially told the press he was uncertain the watches were actually all Rolexes, and Boluarte has dismissed the charges as political targeting.

“The measure taken early this morning is arbitrary, disproportionate and abusive,” Boluarte told the press the day that law enforcement agents raided her home, according to a report published by France 24. “I entered the government with clean hands, and I will leave it with clean hands.”

While the president sorts out the investigation surrounding the watches, her 64-year old brother must now begin to mount a legal defense to answer to prosecutors’ charges which allege he was involved in an influence and peddling scheme designed to appoint specific officials to various government posts throughout Peru.

According to government prosecutors, Nicanor Boluarte was working to create a new political party called Citizens for Peru party, which would be headed by Boluarte, according to a report published by the Associated Press.

As prosecutors continue to build their cases against the president and her brother, they are also targeting the president’s lawyer, Mateo Castañeda, saying he interfered in their criminal investigation.

Castañeda has been advising President Boluarte in the corruption probe, now famously called “Rolexgate.”

The arrest of the president’s brother, and Castañeda, were filmed by television news crews who were apparently signaled about the raids on their homes.

Peru’s judiciary said it ordered the “preliminary detention” of Nicanor Boluarte for 10 days in a post published on the X social media platform.

The president so far has maintained her cool and said she trusts her country’s judicial system, refusing to be deterred from her political agenda.

“We will not be distracted by minor matters, we believe in justice, we believe in the reasonableness of those who administer justice in the country, and in that regard the government will continue to bet on democracy and to respect the constitution,” she said.

Since the first female president took office, she has been barraged by allegations of one scandal after another. Upon her swearing in, the Wall Street Journal headlined a Dec. 8, 2022 story titled, “Peru’s new president faces same turmoil that ousted predecessor.”

“Like Mr. Castillo, Ms. Boluarte will face a fractured Congress that has clashed with the executive branch in recent years. With Peru’s once-strong political parties defunct or in disarray, political analysts say that lawmakers with little political ideology pursue their own personal interests,” the Journal reported at the time.

The Rolexgate investigation and her brother’s police probe are just the latest developments in what the BBC described as a “scandal-hit presidency for Ms. Boluarte.”

In January 2023, just one month after Boluarte was sworn in, Peruvian law enforcement officials retaliated by launching a probe that was looking into whether any of her newly appointed ministers committed “genocide, qualified homicide and serious injuries.”

The probe is centering around the death of more than 49 Castillo supporters, which occurred when the Peruvian government took a strong law an order stance amid violent clashes and protests that called for Boluarte’s immediate resignation when she took office.

Shortly after Peru’s attorney general, Patricia Benavides, was suspended amid suspicion she was part of a separate scheme that would clear various government officials in exchange for appointing or dismissing certain judges, according to a Dec. 7, 2023 report published by Reuters.

Shortly thereafter, the Attorney General’s Office launched an investigation into Boluarte and the law enforcement clashes.

Human rights activists, including Amnesty International have flagged the turmoil in Peru, issuing warnings that the wide myriad of government investigations into politicians could distract law enforcement’s efforts to investigate the 49 deaths of regular civilians that occurred when the December 2022 shift in power occurred.

Castillo is currently behind bars and awaiting trial as law enforcement agents continue an investigation for corruption and whether his attempts to dissolve the Peruvian Congress were unlawful.