NEWS REPORT
Workers of the world, unite!
NEW COUP D'ÉTAT
FOR ELECTORAL FRAUD
On February 17, a new parliamentary "coup d'état" took place in Peru against the reactionary incumbent president, José Jerí; it is the sixth of its kind in the last 10 years; an expression of crisis at the highest levels, a crisis in the politics of the ruling class; an intensification of collusion and reactionary infighting spurred on by the new electoral farce scheduled for April 12.
On February 18, Parliament elected José Balcázar as president of the Board of Directors, which led him to assume the interim Presidency of the Republic after the censure of José Jerí. Balcázar will hold office until July 28, 2026.
The Peruvian state is a bureaucratic dictatorship, based on the alliance of the exploiting classes: the big bourgeoisie (which lieders) and the landowners (under the control of imperialism). Changes in the leadership of the old Peruvian state occur through elections or military or parliamentary coups. This allows us to clearly see the recent development of the political situation in the country.
The backdrop to what is happening within the reactionary camp is that the country is in a new electoral juncture for the renewal of leadership in the old Peruvian state: for president, vice president, members of parliament, and senators (a chamber that was eliminated after Fujimori's 1992 "self-coup") and which will be reintroduced with the upcoming elections.
The ousted José Jerí assumed the presidency of the Republic of Peru after the removal of Dina Boluarte following a parliamentary coup. It's important to note that Fuerza Popular opposed the impeachment until the very last moment; therefore, Jerí's appointment was interpreted as a compromise for the other forces in the contest. Jerí was the ideal figure to serve as a scapegoat. To put it more subtly, Jerí's appointment was "the product of a precarious congressional structure" (Editorial "An Interim Presidency Without Pretensions of Originality," La República, February 18, 2026).
In the Opinion section, "The Jerí Symptom," by J. Bruce, in the aforementioned edition of La República, regarding the appointment we've been discussing, we read: "...they put him in, not despite his skeletons in the closet, but precisely because of them. It was easier...to control such a weak figure." We would clarify the idea: it was easier to replace him when the time came. Just as has happened.
The way in which Jerí was removed also supports our theory about the true motive behind the most recent coup: to control the administration of the upcoming electoral farce with a character of empty words and no more weight than his own person.
Jerí's removal from office occurred through a precarious, reactionary consensus, with no agreement beyond the distribution of positions and seats. This violated the constitution and legal norms for cases of presidential vacancy, resorting to the tactic of "censuring the president of the parliamentary board."
The reasons for this were: they lacked the required number of parliamentarians for the vacancy, which required 87 votes, two-thirds of eligible members. Furthermore, if the vacancy procedure were followed according to the established norms, even if the necessary votes were obtained, the presidency would fall to the acting president of the board, Rospigliosi, a representative of Fujimorism.
El Comercio, aligned with Fuerza Popular, editorialized on the matter: "José Jerí fell due to his own mistakes, but Parliament has set a terrible precedent with this censure."
The parliamentary coup that placed the reactionary Jeri in the presidency last October was motivated by the need of reactionary parties, including revisionists and opportunists, to distance themselves from the government of the murderous DINA, the most repudiated reactionary government in the history of the old Peruvian state, in order to gain electoral advantages for the April elections.
On this occasion, the real cause or motive of the parliamentary coup is similar to what happened in the case of the removal of the murderous DINA; given that Jeri's four months in office have been marked by scandals and failures across the board, and the parties are facing further electoral decline; but now, having achieved a precarious reactionary convergence against Fuerza Popular (the Fujimori party), the aim is to entrust this transitional presidency to the right person to control the electoral farce and manage the electoral fraud.
As the editorial in the reactionary newspaper La República aptly points out in “An Interim Presidency Without Pretensions of Originality” (Lima, February 18, 2026), in the section we quote:
“On the eve of a fragmented election, control of the interim Executive represents both an opportunity and a risk. Managing the transition offers the capacity to exert influence, but also exposes it to attrition and a potential electoral cost.”
The replacement of the “scapegoat” Jerí with the new interim president, José María Balcarzer Zelada, appears to fulfill the expectations of the reactionary parliamentary agreement, that is, to control the electoral farce and its results and avoid the electoral cost of the presidential appointment.
Contrary to the aims of its rivals in the reactionary contest, Fuerza Popular (FP) supported Jerí until the end; it was the only bloc that voted against Jerí's censure. With the parliamentary coup now complete, it loses “capacity to influence” in the farce next April.
The representatives of FP attacked López Aliaga and his Popular Renewal Party, which they described as just as reactionary as FP, because they voted for the censure motion and then did not support the candidacy favored by FP, that of María Carmen Alva (Popular Action).
Thus, the reactionary political forces are positioned for the new electoral farce, less than a month and a half before its possible realization.
The appointment of the new interim president, José Balcázar, is the result of the decay of the old state and its institutions, and the lack of genuine reactionary political parties. Balcázar offered himself, using third parties, to head the administration of the electoral fraud, assuming leadership of the old state and giving continuity to the fascist, genocidal, and traitorous regime that began in April 1992 with Fujimori's so-called "self-coup." This old state functions by sustaining itself through the state bureaucracy and the genocidal armed and police forces.
Balcázar was appointed by a slim minority of votes, 66 in favor and 46 for his opponent, out of a total of 130 congressmen. Parliament is composed of representatives from various reactionary electoral groups, called “parties,” including the opportunists of “Perú Libre,” some rats from the “Teachers’ Bloc,” the “Socialist Bloc,” the “Castillistas,” and others.
The failure of the upcoming elections is pre-programmed. This is due to the fragmentation of the electoral offerings, whereby each seeks the benefit of their faction, group, and individuals behind the facade of more than 37 electoral acronyms, all claiming to be parties or fronts. All of them serve one or the other of the two factions of the big bourgeoisie, which in turn serve imperialism. In these reactionary elections, all participating parties are defending the order of oppression and exploitation.
J. Balcázar's statements serve as a partial admission of what we have been saying:
"We are no longer here to fight. There are no right or left here. That term was created by the French for the revolution; it has no ideological basis. There isn't one. So, friends, I believe I am honored by your vote and that we can tell Peruvians that it is possible to build a true democracy. Democracy isn't working. If this democracy isn't corrected, it will disappear in the future."
"Balcázar assured that the economic model will be maintained and said that much can be done in a month because 'it's not difficult to govern a country.'" In other words, it will continue to operate "on autopilot," that is, managed by the high state bureaucracy made up of officials in the service of imperialism and the big bourgeoisie.
"Guarantee to the people that there will be a democratic and transparent transition, that there be no doubt." “To maintain true peace and ensure we have ministries capable of combating citizen insecurity,”
“We will maintain the current economic policy; we are not in a position for experiments,”
These quotes are verbatim from the first statement by this reactionary figure (as reported in the country's newspapers
Regarding the masses: the mobilizations that have taken place from mid-2025 to the present demonstrate, on the one hand, the tendency of the masses to mobilize; they are becoming increasingly active in a growing popular protest that expresses their rejection of the old state, its institutions, representatives, political parties, and the ongoing electoral farce. On the other hand, it demonstrates the attempts by reactionaries, revisionists, and opportunists to drag them down the unproductive path of voting and harness them to the chariot of the old state.
A change of president, a crisis at the top, a crisis in the politics of the ruling class. As on previous occasions, this new parliamentary coup against José Jerí Oré, who headed the fascist, genocidal, and traitorous regime inaugurated in April 1992, and his replacement by Balcázar expresses not only the acute crisis of the old and rotten Peruvian state, but also the crisis of the regime itself.
To conclude, we reiterate what we stated in October 2025, only changing the name of the reactionary leader:
The new government headed by the reactionary “Pacifier Balcázar,” questioned for a series of abuses of power and representation, is merely a change of horses in the fascist, genocidal, and traitorous regime. Therefore, this new government will be more oppressive, genocidal, and traitorous than the previous one. It will seek to further align its government with the current government of Yankee imperialism, headed by the ultra-reactionary genocidal Trump.
In this situation, the masses are in increasingly urgent need to resist the double reactionary attack: on the one hand, from the repressive forces of the Peruvian state itself, from the gangs of the “warlords” of the large landowners and the large mining companies; plus a triple attack from the ever-growing scourge of common criminal gangs protected by the very civil, military, and police authorities of the reactionary state.
Therefore, the current political situation is very bad for reaction and very good for the revolution. It serves to advance the task of the general reorganization of the party and a new leap forward in the incorporation of the masses into people's war. To emerge from the current impasse into an active people's war.
Elections, no! People's war, yes!
Peru People's Movement
February 2026