From Lima to the world stage: The remarkable rise of Peru's universally despised president

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A president without support

Peru’s president Dina Boluarte stands out even against Latin America’s traditionally turbulent political backdrop. Few modern leaders are so openly despised by the overwhelming majority of their citizens. According to the latest polls, only 2% approve of her rule. In the south of the country, where Boluarte comes from, the figure is below 1%. Peruvians chant “Dina the murderer.” They mock her at carnivals and burn paper effigies of her on New Year’s Eve. The hatred toward Boluarte has reached such proportions that memes about “Dina Rolexina” circulate on social media far beyond Peru.

In 2021, the then-unknown Boluarte became vice president under the victorious far-left schoolteacher Pedro Castillo. After his resignation and arrest at the end of 2022, she took over the country, harshly suppressing protests.

More than 70% of respondents believe she should leave office as soon as possible, without waiting for the end of her presidential term. But Boluarte herself has no intention of resigning. In July, she doubled her own salary: the president now receives 35,500 soles per month (about $10,000). In August, she secured a Constitutional Court ruling suspending criminal cases against her until July 2026, when a new president will take office. Among the cases were investigations into bribery and secret plastic surgeries.

From civil registry to government

Over the past decade, Peru has been mired in a severe political crisis. Five out of six presidents left office early. At the start of the 2021 presidential campaign, Dina Boluarte was working at the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status. Pedro Castillo, who was rapidly gaining popularity, ran as the candidate of the left-wing Peru Libre party, with its founder Vladimir Cerrón as his running mate.

However, in the middle of the campaign, Cerrón was convicted on corruption charges and barred from participating. Boluarte replaced him. After Castillo’s victory, she simultaneously held two posts in the government: vice president and minister of development and social inclusion.

Castillo’s presidency never got onto a solid footing. Right-wing opposition parties in parliament did everything they could to oust him. During his 500 days in power, he reshuffled his cabinet five times and replaced 78 ministers. In December 2022, the president announced the dissolution of parliament, imposed a curfew, and appointed a special government with expanded powers to prepare for early elections and a new constitution. Political elites refused to back Castillo. He was removed from office and arrested. Charged with conspiracy and rebellion, he faces up to 34 years in prison. The case is now before the Supreme Court.

Castillo was succeeded by Boluarte, who became the first woman in Peru’s history to assume the presidency. In her address to the nation, she promised to fight corruption, but her first actions focused on brutally suppressing the protests that had erupted across the country. Demonstrators demanded her resignation, to be followed by early elections. The fiercest clashes took place in Peru’s impoverished southern regions, where the ousted Castillo had enjoyed his highest levels of support. From December 2022 to February 2023, 50 people were killed in clashes with police and the military.

January 9, 2023, went down in Peru’s history as the “Juliaca massacre,” named after the city where police killed 18 residents, including three teenagers. According to a Human Rights Watch report, 11 of those killed had not even taken part in the protests, but were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when the clashes broke out.

The Peruvian government and Boluarte promoted a different version of events, claiming that police had never opened fire and that the victims were killed by homemade weapons. Authorities alleged that these weapons and ammunition had been smuggled illegally into Peru from Bolivia, from whence the unrest was supposedly being coordinated. However, forensic examinations revealed that the bullets removed from the victims’ bodies matched those used by Peruvian security forces.

Thus, immediately after taking office, Boluarte became branded as Dina the murderer. A song that went viral on social media became an anthem of the protests. Its lyrics included the lines: “This democracy is no longer a democracy. Dina the murderer, the people renounce you. How many more dead must there be before you leave?”

“Rolex-gate” and the secret rhinoplasty

Before her rapid political rise, Boluarte was an ordinary civil servant with a modest salary — no luxury accessories, just plain clothing. Once in power, and especially after becoming president, she began to transform noticeably, and the scale of this “makeover” far exceeded even a presidential salary.

In March 2024, journalists noticed Boluarte wearing Rolex watches, including gold and gem-encrusted models. In total, they counted at least 16 different pieces. She also appeared with bracelets, rings, and pendants that clearly did not fit into the president’s budget. None of these watches or accessories were mentioned in her official asset declarations.

The scandal, dubbed “Rolex-gate,” captivated the entire country. Peru’s Prosecutor General launched an investigation into illicit enrichment and concealment of assets. As part of the probe, police searched Boluarte’s home and office. On Apr. 5, 2024, the president spent five hours testifying at the prosecutor’s office. Afterwards, she addressed the nation:

«Regarding the watches, I must admit it was a mistake to borrow them for a while. I have already returned them.»

Her words implied that all of the expensive watches, including the Rolexes, had been lent to her by a «close friend» — Wilfredo Oscorima, the governor of Ayacucho. She did not mention the fact that, around the same time, Oscorima had received 100 million soles ($2.8 million) in emergency aid from the government. Instead, she chose to showcase several pieces of her own jewelry to Peruvians. Her line — «Do you know what brand this is? Unique!» — instantly became a meme. (Unique is a Peruvian brand of cosmetics and costume jewelry offering pieces priced at under $100.) Laying out the trinkets in little boxes, the president accused journalists of harming the country by drumming up a scandal out of nothing and thereby scaring off foreign investors.

At the start of 2025, visitors at the Andean Carnival paraded around wearing giant cardboard watches painted gold while singing: “Oscorima, my friend, will you send me a Rolex?” and “Dina Boluarte, you provoke people with your plastic surgeries. You mock us when you show up looking fresh like lettuce leaves.”

The ditty about plastic surgery was also not chosen at random. On June 28, 2023, 61-year-old Boluarte made her last public appearance before disappearing for several days. During that time, her official accounts continued posting “canned” content — pre-scheduled updates. On July 10, the president reappeared, now without wrinkles or eye bags, and with a new nose. In May 2024, journalists revealed that she had secretly undergone at least three plastic surgeries performed by one of Peru’s most renowned surgeons, Mario Cabani.

Trying to dispel rumors of cosmetic procedures, Boluarte admitted she had undergone rhinoplasty, but claimed it was solely on medical advice due to breathing problems. The prosecutor’s office launched an investigation on suspicion of dereliction of duty and abandoning her post. Under Peru’s constitution, the head of state must notify the country of any absence and transfer authority to the head of parliament or to a vice president (Boluarte has none). She failed to do so, and instead concealed the fact of the operation before lying about its purpose. Social media users circulated before-and-after photos of the president with captions such as: “This is the only improvement I’ve noticed in the country since it’s been run by a ‘president’ nobody elected.”

“A lunch with the scent of poverty”

While Dina Boluarte spends her time hushing up corruption allegations and rescuing her brother Nicanor (who spent 50 days evading arrest on charges of selling government posts before his lawyers eventually managed to get the warrant annulled), Peru is experiencing a catastrophic surge in organized crime. Since 2022, the number of murders has increased by nearly a third, and 2025 is on track to set a record for violence: from January to July alone, more than 1,200 victims have been recorded.

In addition, instances of extortion have multiplied several times over. Shops, pharmacies, hair salons — virtually every small and medium-sized business — are suffering at the hands of racketeers, and public transport drivers are bearing the brunt. Criminal groups demand money from transport companies and attack drivers if they refuse to pay.

Sixty-five of the country’s murder victims this year have been bus drivers. Trade unions have staged protest marches to parliament and organized several nationwide strikes, but as their leaders admit, they have yet to receive any meaningful response from the government.

As if safety concerns were not enough, the cost of living in Peru also continues to rise. Nearly 9.5 million Peruvians (27.6% of the population) remain below the poverty line. Against this backdrop, Boluarte keeps trying to win favor with the public in an effort to show that she is close to the people and understands the lives of ordinary Peruvians. “We women know how to save. Sometimes with just 10 soles ($2.84) we can make soup, a main dish, and even dessert. Isn’t that right? We women are like that,” Boluarte boasted in the fall of 2024. Instead of approval, she drew a wave of criticism and the nickname “Dina-10-soles.”

TV hosts and bloggers rushed to prepare their own “10-sole menus.” It turned out that, towards the end of 2024, the sum was sufficient to buy a vegetable soup pack, 250 grams of chicken gizzards, half a kilo of the cheapest rice, a banana, one onion, and a bit of gelatin. Boluarte was advised to try “water soup,” while her recipe was dubbed “a lunch with the scent of poverty.”

Expelled from the leftist Peru Libre party that had brought her to power, Dina Boluarte actively seeks support from the right and the security forces. In August, she signed a “historic” law granting amnesty to military and police officers accused of crimes against humanity committed between 1980 and 2000, a period of Peruvian history that was marked by a bloody armed conflict between far-left guerrilla groups and the government, involving punitive operations and “death squads.”

According to the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation, about 70,000 Peruvians were killed or disappeared during those years. In 37% of cases, the perpetrators were police, military, or “self-defense units.” Both the security forces and the guerrillas carried out mass executions.

For years, the relatives of those killed and disappeared worked with human rights defenders to bring the perpetrators to justice. The amnesty signed by President Boluarte releases from responsibility all military and police personnel whose convictions were not upheld by the Supreme Court, defendants in cases still under consideration in courts of various instances, and all accused persons over the age of 70. In total, it concerns 150 individuals convicted of crimes against humanity and about 600 defendants. In her speech marking the amnesty, Boluarte referred to the military and police as “heroes” and “true defenders of the homeland.”

Boluarte’s bid to ensure the loyalty of the security forces is hardly surprising. Of the 11 presidents who have governed Peru since 2000, two – Alejandro Toledo and Ollanta Humala — are serving long prison terms for corruption. A third, Alan García, committed suicide when police came to arrest him. Cases against two more — Pedro Kuczynski and Pedro Castillo — are still in court, with prosecutors seeking sentences ranging from 15 to 35 years. With less than a year remaining in Boluarte’s term, she could well face the same fate.