Arizona Tribune - Peru's brand-new president under fire for child sex comments

Jose Maria Balcazar, 83, was on Wednesday named Peru's interim leader, for a period of just over five months, after predecessor Jose Jeri was impeached on graft allegations.

Jeri, 39, became the latest leader to fall victim to a cycle of institutional turmoil as a powerful Congress battles a weakened executive against a backdrop of chronic corruption and rising violence.

In 10 years, four presidents have been impeached, two stepped down to avoid the same fate, and only one managed to complete his intended term.

Four former leaders are behind bars.

Almost instantly, Peruvians are calling the appointment of Balcazar a huge mistake.

Analysts have told AFP there was no guarantee that Balcazar will last to July 28, when a new president will take over following elections scheduled for April.

"It’s a crazy country. You go to bed with one president and wake up with another," Fabiola Fernandez, a self‑employed worker, told AFP in Lima Thursday.

- 'Serious mistake' -

A lawyer and former judge, Balcazar represents the leftist Peru Libre party.

In 2011, he was removed from the bench of the Supreme Court for misconduct, and in 2022 he was expelled from a regional bar association for ethical and criminal violations.

On Thursday, NGOs also took aim at Balcazar's record on women's and girls' rights.

In 2023, he told a congressional debate about ending child marriage that "early sexual relations aid a woman’s psychological future."

Peru that year passed a legal reform to ban marriage for anyone under 18 -- a change Balcazar had opposed. Previously, teenagers could get married with their parents' consent.

The CNDDHH rights coalition expressed concern Thursday at the appointment "of an authority figure with a controversial public record and statements that justify sexual violence against girls."

The Flora Tristan Peruvian Women’s Center, for its part, said the choice of Balcazar was emblematic of a "profound ethical and democratic crisis" in Peru -- where more than half of women report being a victim of psychological, physical or sexual abuse by a partner, according to government statistics.

"Anyone who minimizes violence against women and girls is not voicing an isolated opinion, but revealing a complacent attitude toward abuse," the center said in a statement.

Balcazar has claimed his words have been distorted and taken out of context.

The interim president of Peru's Congress, Fernando Rospigliosi, on Thursday described Jeri’s ouster as a "very serious mistake."

"They removed Jeri without knowing what would come next. And now we’re seeing the consequences," Rospigliosi told reporters.

Right‑wing former presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori called Balcazar's nomination "a very sad day for the country."

M.King--AT