Three days after the killing of a protester by an undercover police officer, Peru’s interim president, José Jerí, led the procession of the Lord of Miracles through the streets of Lima. Wrapped in a purple robe and wearing a détente, Jerí was one of the devotees carrying the 900-pound image of the crucified Jesus Christ on their shoulders. A procession that dates back to the 17th century, when an earthquake hit the town and the mural – painted by a slave – did not collapse. A miracle that is commemorated every October in the most multitudinous rite of Peruvian Catholicism.
The first crowd of Jerí, Dina Boluarte’s successor after her dismissal on 10 October, was perceived by a large part of the population as an example of hypocrisy and indolence in the face of the pain of others. But also as a gesture of gratitude from a politician who found himself becoming president without even having the votes to become a deputy.
Jerí started with everything against him – the seventh president since 2016 is part of a discredited political class and the target of a youth who vented their anger in the streets – but he opted for a strategy that works, from Washington to Lima: that of the president influencer. After his first month in power, the latest poll by the CPI, one of the country’s main pollsters, gave him 55.9% approval. It is an extraordinary figure compared to the 3% with which Dina Boluarte left power.
How to explain this contrast between two politicians who did not win the polls? Although Boluarte left the fence too low, several analysts agree that Jerí has distanced himself, appealing to old formulas such as the intransigent discourse and a populism that mixes religiosity and patriotic exaltation, amplified thanks to social networks.
While Boluarte deleted his X account once he occupied the Palace, Jerí has shown that he has mastered the networks in which his team records all his steps. But also by a TikTok imitator, named Martín Palacios, who paved the way for him, with a reggaeton pelvic step that went viral and gave him an unexpected dose of charisma. The impact of his parody was such that it trivialized the most sensitive issue for Jerí: a complaint of sexual rape filed amid irregularities.
For political scientist Carlos Meléndez, Latin America today has four presidents millennials: Nayib Bukele in El Salvador, Daniel Noboa in Ecuador, Gabriel Boric in Chile and Jerí in Peru. “The four of them have this media sensitivity selfies and timely tweets. Three of them agree in trying to take over the issue of public security, a structural weakness of Latin American societies”, explains the researcher from the University of Lisbon. “On the one hand there is Bukele (the consolidated strong arm) and on the other Jerí (the apprentice). They have similar aspirations and themes, but different abilities to achieve their goals,” he adds.
Nicknamed Pajero Since he has subscribed to pornographic accounts – which he has stopped following – the interim president has moved towards a way of doing politics similar to that of Bukele. In an escalation of crime in which extortionists keep the country in fear, his first step was to take photographs with the high command of the Armed Forces – even before forming his cabinet – and visit the most overcrowded prisons in the country, appearing tough towards criminals. Weeks later, he declared the fifth state of emergency in the provinces of Lima and Callao in the past three years. “We will move from the defensive to the offensive in the fight against crime,” promised the leader, who turns 39 on Thursday.
But the crime data – unlike the popularity data – do not support his strategy. According to the National Death Information System (Sinadef), 147 murders were reported during his administration; The feeling of insecurity remains and the most affected are the transport unions and small traders who are killed daily by the mafias.
The former deputy interior minister, Julio Corcuera, believes that with his tours around the neighborhoods – always in a white shirt and with his sleeves rolled up – Jerí created the impression of wanting to work. But he makes it clear that these efforts are not enough and, without detailed intelligence work, greater effects will not be achieved. “When this presence (media and territorial) is not consistent with an effective reduction in crime, it gives support to the arguments according to which it is only a show media,” says the security specialist.
In an editorial titled “The Oppressive State is a Macho Rapist,” former congresswoman Rocío Silva Santisteban describes Jerí as a Creole politician with a “viscerate voice and a patriarchal pose” who has become a meme (Pajerí) for his base passions. “Beyond the gross mockery and indignation of the citizens, Jerí has installed himself in the Government Palace with actions that root him in his homosocial brotherhood as an exaltation of virility,” he claims. “It’s not that difficult to raise the contrast with Boluarte.”
From the electoral campaign to the 2021 elections, with his party Somos Perú, José Jerí has demonstrated that populism – what he has always known – is one of his weapons. He recorded an advert with former boxer Jonathan Maicelo, where – with many extra kilos on him – he promised to eliminate crime, corruption and bad deputies. He recently greeted the players of Universitario de Deportes, the club that has won the Peruvian football title for the last three years, via video call. Furthermore, he flew over the city in a helicopter and walked along Abancay avenue in central Lima during demonstrations against him.
His foreign policy also served to distance himself from his predecessor. Jerí has divided the waters with his position to delay the delivery of safe passage to Pedro Castillo’s former prime minister, Betssy Chávez, accused of being one of the co-authors of Castillo’s failed self-coup in late 2022, and who was taking refuge in the Mexican embassy in Peru. In just a few days, Peru broke off relations with Mexico, expelled the head of the diplomatic delegation and declared Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum persona non grata. Furthermore, he expelled the Cuban ambassador, Carlos Zamora, believed to be an alleged intelligence operator and resumed contact with the Bolivian government.
Will José Jerí survive until July 2026, when he will have to relinquish command? Carlos Meléndez warns that “since the crisis of presidential instability began, no tenant of the Palace can guarantee that his mandate will end.” However, the election campaign could be his respite: it diverts public attention and reduces demands for accountability, unless a scandal or major crisis erupts.
While groups from the southern mountains, some transport unions, Generation Z and a large number of self-convened citizens continue to shout “everyone go”, Peru’s fourth youngest president – after Felipe Santiago Salaverry, Alan García and Manuel Pardo y Lavalle – announced that on Tuesday he will begin a three-month tour of all the regions of the country. “We will listen to people’s concerns and expectations,” he said. A month ago, a presidential candidate who had defamed the citizens of the Puno region had to leave escorted by a police contingent to avoid lynching. It remains to be seen how Jerí, the influencer who relies on the Lord of Miracles, will fare.
