Peruvian lawmakers removed the country’s interim president from office over a scandal involving undeclared meetings with Chinese businesspeople.
The ouster cemented Peru’s status as among the least stable countries in Latin America — José Jerí was the country’s eighth president in less than a decade — and comes just two months ahead of scheduled general elections.
It also points to the country’s emergence as a battleground for influence between the US and China. Washington warned last week that Lima was surrendering its sovereignty by giving Beijing too much control over a Pacific deep-water port built by a Chinese company in Peru, a mammoth infrastructure project that has sparked concern that China is wielding power in the US’ backyard.
