Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra ( ; born 31 May 1962) is a Peruvian politician, civil servant, and lawyer currently serving as the President of Peru since 7 December 2022. She had served as the first vice president and minister at the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion under President Pedro Castillo. Before then, she served as an officer at the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (RENIEC) from 2007 until 2022. With Boluarte assuming the presidency as the sole vice president, President of Congress Alejandro Soto Reyes is next in the line of succession.
Boluarte is the first woman to become President of Peru. Initially a member of Free Peru, she was sworn in following President Pedro Castillo's attempt to dissolve Congress, citing the legislature's obstruction of his government, which resulted in his impeachment, ousting, and arrest. Her presidency comes during a period of political turmoil in Peru that began in 2017, as she is the sixth president in five years. She would quickly receive support from right-wing groups and the media organizations in Peru due to her support for conservatism and the existing economic model. Boluarte created a coalition with the majority right-wing Congress of Peru, which had lost but not conceded the 2021 Peruvian general election, and the Peruvian Armed Forces, raising concerns about a civilian-military government forming. During her first months as president, protests against her government emerged across Peru, during which authorities perpetrated the Ayacucho massacre and Juliaca massacre. Analysts said that the Boluarte administration was undergoing democratic backsliding and heading towards authoritarianism while her government's crackdown of protests resulted with Freedom House moving Peru from "Free" to "Partly free" in the 2023 Freedom in the World. Boluarte praised the armed forces despite their violent actions and said that though she was the commander-in-chief of the military, she had no control over their decisions.
Attorney General of Peru Patricia Benavides announced investigations on 10 January 2023 to determine if Boluarte, Prime Minister Alberto Otárola, Minister of the Interior Víctor Rojas, and Minister of Defense Jorge Chávez committed genocide and aggravated homicide. Groups in Congress opposed to Boluarte opened an impeachment motion against her on 25 January 2023, citing moral incapacity. Some Latin American governments, including Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico and Venezuela have continued to recognize Pedro Castillo as the democratically elected President of Peru and have refused to recognize Boluarte.
Early life and education
Boluarte was born in Chalhuanca, Apurímac on 31 May 1962. She graduated as a lawyer from the University of San Martín de Porres and did postgraduate studies at that university.
Early career
In 2004, she co-authored a book, The Recognition of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, which was later investigated for plagiarism after 55% of the text included was marked as plagiarized from a 2002 post on the National Human Rights Commission of Mexico's website according to Turnitin software.
She has worked at National Registry of Identification and Civil Status as an attorney and officer since 2007. She ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Lima's Surquillo district in 2018, representing the Free Peru party. She also participated in the extraordinary parliamentary elections in 2020 for Free Peru, though she did not obtain a congressional seat.
Vice presidency (2021–2022)
Election
In the 2021 presidential election she was part of the presidential ticket of Pedro Castillo, which was victorious in the run-off.
During the campaign, Boluarte was widely viewed to position herself more moderately than Castillo, saying that she would not support overriding the Constitutional Court of Peru, but still stated "the wealthy middle class of Lima will surely cease to be a wealthy middle class." Boluarte also said that if Castillo were to be removed from office, she would resign in support of him. While campaigning in Piura, Diario Correo reported on counter-terrorism police documents that alleged Boluarte was seen working beside members of MOVADEF, an alleged arm of Shining Path.