Article: https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/17/americas/peru-president-jose-jeri-ousted-intl-latam
This just in from Lima: their president has been ousted! Following the suspicious meetings with Chinese businessmen in different locations throughout the country, one time even wearing a hood, the prior Peruvian president Mr. Jose Jeri has been ousted by Peru’s Congress on account of misconduct. None of his aforementioned meetings were recording in the presidential logbook, nor were any other persons, per say ambassadors, indulged as to what the president was doing eating food and drinking with Chinese business-people. His ousting comes as the seventh in a list of ousted Peruvian presidents spanning the last decade. The last time a Peruvian president fully completed a [5 year] term was 2011, each since having fallen short by weeks, months, or years. Mr. Jeri has naturally denied these claims, but there appears to be ample proof tying himself to meetings with businessmen, particularly Zhihua Yang, whose company accepts state grants which the president himself could very easily manipulate. Is that the full story, though?
Of course not! Realistically, China has been using soft power across the globe to exercise its growing need for economic domination. They are willing to utilize, in many cases, whatever is possibly at their disposal to meet these business needs and, therefore, are more than willing to conduct covert meetings with those in power if it means that they may benefit. This trend largely ties in with other developing nations, as they must choose between easy Chinese money, the long and hard road of growing themselves, or taking cash from other investors like the United States, Russia, India, or the EU. For any nation though, this is a cautionary tale of what occurs when a head of state foregoes his country’s interest for his own.
Peru has evidently already laid their two cents, but how will other nations respond? Well, the current American administration’s interests are likely to be murred, as the loss of a conservative president in Peru leaves the door open for left-leaning politicians to seize control, however there is yet no guarantee that such a thing will occur. Elections are, more often than not, slippery slopes to wager on, and there is no knowing how the state may again vote. For the nations surrounding Peru, namely Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Brazil, and Chile, the ousting of Mr. Jeri is heartbreaking, in that it proves Peru has not yet found stability in its executive office.
Perhaps the most relevant relation to class is that of organized crime: whilst Chinese business-people are not exclusively apart of any ‘syndicate’, they are, oftentimes, engaged in illegal or otherwise immoral acts which ultimately harm the sovereignty or security of states. Whether it be through the stealing of trade secrets through espionage, the debt-collecting from poor regions, or the coercion of executive leaders, conducting business with the Chinese has proven to be legally shaky and, as the future may tell again, consequential.
