Police guard outdoors President Dina Boluarte’s home throughout a raid ordered by the Attorney General’s Office geared toward seizing luxurious watches as a part of a preliminary investigation into alleged illicit enrichment in Lima, Peru, Saturday, March 30, 2024.

Martin Mejia/AP

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Martin Mejia/AP

Police guard outdoors President Dina Boluarte’s home throughout a raid ordered by the Attorney General’s Office geared toward seizing luxurious watches as a part of a preliminary investigation into alleged illicit enrichment in Lima, Peru, Saturday, March 30, 2024.

Martin Mejia/AP

LIMA, Peru — Peruvian president Dina Boluarte stated in a televised tackle on Saturday that she rejected the “unconstitutional and discriminatory” manner an investigation into attainable illicit enrichment is being carried out, after police broke down the entrance door of her home with a battering ram in a single day searching for luxurious watches.

Police had waited in useless for a number of minutes for somebody to open the door late Friday, as dozens of armed officers carrying ballistic shields and batons seemed on. Boluarte stated the authorities didn’t permit sufficient time for her members of the family to awaken themselves, costume and reply the door, particularly given the late hour.

After their raid round midnight, officers went to the presidential palace the place, this time, they had been admitted with out resorting to drive.

The nation is accustomed to seeing searches within the houses of former presidents, however this marked the primary time in Peru’s historical past that police forcibly entered the house of a sitting president. Raids on the presidential palace had occurred earlier than.

Boluarte is being preliminarily investigated for allegedly buying an undisclosed assortment of luxurious watches since turning into vp and social inclusion minister in July 2021, after which president in December 2022.

The investigation started in mid-March after a TV program spotlighted Boluarte sporting a Rolex watch that’s price as much as $14,000 in Peru. Later, different applications detected a minimum of two extra Rolexes.

Boluarte, a 61-year-old lawyer, was a modest district official earlier than getting into then-President Pedro Castillo’s authorities on a month-to-month wage of $8,136 in July 2021. Boluarte later assumed the presidency with a decrease wage of $4,200 per 30 days. Shortly thereafter, she started to show the luxurious watches.

Boluarte didn’t record any Rolexes in an compulsory asset declaration doc.

In her pre-recorded and televised tackle on Saturday, Boluarte didn’t make clear the origin of the watches. Boluarte stated that her lawyer had suggested her to not make any assertion till she attends the prosecutor’s workplace to “clarify the facts.”

But she denied accusations of corruption. “I have always said that I’m an honest woman,” Boluarte stated.

“I ask myself a question: since when does a sector of the press care about what a president wears or does not wear? I hope and I want to believe that this is not a sexist or discriminatory issue,” added Boluarte, who’s Peru’s first feminine president.

Boluarte’s lawyer, Mateo Castañeda, advised radio station RPP on Saturday morning that police even searched below the carpets on the presidential palace, and located roughly 10 “nice” watches. Castañeda didn’t say how most of the watches discovered within the palace had been Rolexes.

“Staff from the Government Palace completely facilitated the diligence requested by the Attorney General’s Office, which was carried out normally and without incident,” Peru’s presidency stated in a message Saturday morning on the social media platform X, previously Twitter.

Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzén advised RPP radio that “a storm was being generated where there is none” and the work of the prosecution is inflicting “political noise that affects investments.”

Boluarte initially claimed possession of a minimum of one Rolex as a long-held possession and urged the media to not delve into private issues throughout a press convention in March.

Earlier within the week, Attorney General Juan Villena criticized Boluarte’s request to delay her look in courtroom for 2 weeks, emphasizing her obligation to cooperate with the investigation.

Political turmoil is nothing new in Peru, which has seen six presidents within the final six years. But this “latest crisis will further tarnish the image of the Peruvian presidency, with potentially significant political and economic implications,” stated Benjamin Gedan, the director of the Wilson Center’s Latin America Program.

Given the financial struggles of many Peruvians, “allegations of corruption could be incendiary,” Gedan added.

Many see Boluarte’s latest statements as contradicting her earlier pledge to talk in truth to prosecutors, exacerbating a political disaster stemming from her unexplained possession of Rolex watches.

The lawyer basic emphasised Boluarte’s obligation to promptly produce the three Rolex watches for investigation, cautioning towards their disposal or destruction.

Boluarte assumed the presidency in December 2022 following Castillo’s impeachment after he tried to dissolve congress and rule by decree. At least 49 individuals had been killed within the protests that adopted.

Critics accuse Boluarte’s authorities of taking an more and more authoritarian bent because it staves off calls for for early elections and works with members of congress on legal guidelines that threaten to undermine the independence of Peru’s judicial system.

Boluarte will testify to the prosecutor’s workplace on April 5, Castañeda advised RPP.

Since final yr’s mobilizations and their lethal penalties, there has not been a powerful social motion able to eradicating Boluarte, based on political analyst and lawyer Juan de la Puente.

“There is an enormous distrust that their presence on the streets can lead to anything positive,” de la Puente stated in a phone interview, referring to potential protesters.

Still, the weekend raids spotlight that Boluarte’s authorities has run its course, de la Puente stated, including that defining precisely when she may step down is just not but attainable.