Peru: Dina Boluarte rules out seeking asylum after being dismissed from office

(AFP) The Peruvian ex-president Dina Boluarte, removed by Congress in an express impeachment trial, ruled out plans to seek asylum, despite investigations opened against her by prosecutors for alleged money laundering and another crimes.

The 63-year-old former president reappeared in front of her home in southern Lima, to deny press rumors about her alleged intention to seek refuge in another country.

It has been "being indicated through the media that she had been seeking asylum. None of it is true," she told reporters.

Boluarte was removed from the presidency early Friday morning, after being subjected to a lightning impeachment trial for "permanent moral incapacity" to exercise the position she held since December 2022.

The Congress dismissed her from her functions by holding her responsible for the insecurity crisis that plagues the country and involves organized crime.

As soon as she lost her immunity, the prosecutor's office activated two investigations against Boluarte: one for laundering of assets during the 2021 electoral campaign, when she was a vice-presidential candidate together with Pedro Castillo.

The other case is for "negotiation incompatible with her position." According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, Boluarte allegedly managed the "payment of social benefits for one of the friends" of the doctor who performed cosmetic operations on her when she was head of state.

"I will be permanently in the country"

As a result, the prosecutor's office submitted a request to the justice system to prohibit Boluarte from leaving the country for between 18 and 36 months.

"Those cases that are under investigation at the Public Prosecutor's Office, I am not responsible for any of them. Calm is in me, I am at home and I will be permanently in the country," Boluarte maintained.

Boluarte also faces an investigation related to the death of some 50 people in the repression of protests that followed his arrival to power to replace ousted and imprisoned former president Pedro Castillo, after his failed attempt to shut down Congress.

In addition, she has open files for alleged abandonment of office when she had a nose job without notifying Congress, as stipulated by law; and another, for the so-called Rolexgate, a scandal that broke out in 2024, when the president appeared with luxury jewelry that she had not declared in her list of assets.

With her dismissal, Boluarte may eventually be prosecuted and convicted.