Six Peruvian cabinet ministers resigned in a reshuffle amid an investigation into how President Dina Boluarte got the Rolex watches she has been spotted wearing.
With Peru embroiled in a controversy known as Rolexgate, Interior Minister Victor Torres was the first to resign, two days after police under his leadership stormed and searched the president's residence and office.
Five additional ministers resigned some hours later. They had positions in women's concerns, education, rural development, production, and international commerce.
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The administration did not explain the resignations, but they arrived two days before the new prime minister, Gustavo Adrianzen, and his cabinet were scheduled to be sworn in by Congress in a vote set a month earlier.
On Monday night, Boluarte swore in six new ministers to replace those who had gone.
Following a cabinet meeting, Torres said he was stepping down for personal reasons.
However, his departure was primarily interpreted as retaliation for the weekend attacks on the presidency. He has also faced much criticism in Congress for a dramatic surge in street crime.
Torres said he organized his exit with Boluarte. "I am leaving because I asked the lady, and she accepted," he told reporters.
Peruvian politics is tumultuous, with six changing presidents in the previous eight years.
The most recent crisis emerged in mid-March when a television program discovered that Boluarte, who has a dismal popularity rating, owned numerous pricey Rolex clocks, and it is unclear how she obtained them. She makes around $55,000 each year.
Boluarte, 61, has not clarified anything other than to claim that the timepieces are the result of a lifetime of hard effort.
She is currently the subject of a corruption investigation to discover if she has unlawfully benefited herself since assuming office in December 2022 and for neglecting to disclose the watches as part of her assets.
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