\n<\/p>\n
The police and prosecutors in Peru carried out a surprise raid at the home of President Dina Boluarte<\/a> and the presidential palace early Saturday as part of an \u201cunlawful enrichment\u201d investigation into news reports that she had been seen wearing Rolex watches since taking office.<\/p>\n The raid, which came as Peruvians were celebrating the Holy Week holiday, shocked many people, even in a country that has grown accustomed over the past two decades to politicians investigated for alleged corruption.<\/p>\n Before midnight on Good Friday, the police used a battering ram to force their way into Ms. Boluarte\u2019s home in Lima, according to live coverage on Latina Noticias<\/a>. Prosecutors and the police then searched Ms. Boluarte\u2019s office and residence in the presidential palace.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The president had failed to appear this week for a scheduled appointment with prosecutors to show them three Rolex watches she has worn and to explain how she obtained them. She also refused to allow them into her house to execute a search warrant, according to Attorney General Juan Villena, who told lawmakers that her refusal was \u201ca clear indicator of rebellion<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The investigation into Ms. Boluarte began<\/a> on March 18, after the online news program La Encerrona revealed<\/a> that she had started wearing increasingly expensive watches, including at least one Rolex, since taking office in December 2022. Prosecutors suspect her of violating the country\u2019s laws against unlawful enrichment and failing to declare assets. In Peru, the elected authorities must report to the government any assets worth more than 10,300 soles, or about $2,774, and disclose any gifts received from third parties.<\/p>\n Local news outlets have since reported that Ms. Boluarte has worn three other Rolex watches, as well as a $50,000 Cartier bracelet<\/a>, and that banking authorities have detected about $300,000 in deposits<\/a> of unknown origin made to her personal accounts before she took office.<\/p>\n The model of Rolex watches she has reportedly worn costs at least $14,000, according to La Encerrona.<\/p>\n Ms. Boluarte has denied wrongdoing<\/a>, but she has also declined to explain the origin of the Rolexes publicly, saying only that the first Rolex watch<\/a> that drew attention was an item \u201cfrom long ago.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s in my DNA to not be corrupt,\u201d she told journalists<\/a> on March 15. \u201cWhat I have is the fruit of my efforts and my work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In a televised address on Saturday, Ms. Boluarte, flanked by ministers in her cabinet, blamed news outlets for creating \u201csmoke screens\u201d that fuel \u201cchaos and uncertainty,\u201d She called on Peruvians to march to defend democracy.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m an honest woman. I entered the presidential palace with clean hands, and that\u2019s how I\u2019ll leave in 2026,\u201d she said. \u201cLet\u2019s march today for truth and idealism and hug one another with a single heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Ms. Boluarte\u2019s surrogates have suggested other explanations. Hania P\u00e9rez de Cu\u00e9llar, her housing minister and the former head of the agency that protects intellectual property, suggested that the Rolex might be fake and admitted to buying a counterfeit luxury watch<\/a> herself on a trip to China. A lawyer for Ms. Boluarte said early Saturday that she might have received the watches from a \u201cfan\u201d who wanted to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n Justice Minister Eduardo Arana called the raids \u201cunconstitutional\u201d and \u201cdisproportionate\u201d and appealed to lawmakers for \u201cunity\u201d in the face of what he described as an attempt to destabilize the government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cJustice is being politicized,\u201d he said in a news conference<\/a> with other ministers. \u201cThe purpose is to rupture the government, democracy and institutionality.\u201d He declined to answer questions from journalists.<\/p>\n It was unclear whether the Rolex controversy would cost Ms. Boluarte key support.<\/p>\n The interior ministry, which controls the national police, expressed support for her, saying in a post on X<\/a> that it rejected \u201cacts that affect the development of the country, cloaked in questionable judicial provisions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe reaffirm our commitment to continue working for the country\u2019s internal order,\u201d the ministry wrote.<\/p>\n Some of Ms. Boluarte\u2019s allies on the right blamed her for letting the situation escalate. And once-friendly news outlets have adopted a more critical stance, a sign that patience may be wearing thin among her supporters.<\/p>\n The controversy over the Rolex watches comes as the economy is flagging and hunger is growing in Peru, a country that won international praise for consolidating its democracy and riding a mining-fueled commodities boom to pull millions of its citizens from poverty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Some political observers predicted that the scandal was the beginning of the end for Ms. Boluarte\u2019s government and that it was likely to open the door to a new round of political turmoil in a country that has had six presidents in the past six years.<\/p>\n \u201cDina\u2019s government is over,\u201d the Peruvian political scientist Juan de la Puente said on X<\/a>. \u201cThe spectacle is pitiful, as it was with Castillo. Both devaluated the highest office.\u201d<\/p>\n The investigative news program Cuarto Poder reported<\/a> that Ms. Boluarte wore one Rolex model worth more than $18,000 during an event in February to address poverty in vulnerable populations.<\/p>\n