Overview
- Four Senate blocs formally filed the remotion request on September 18 to the Senate presidency seeking the immediate removal of Ombudsman Josué Gutiérrez for alleged serious misconduct.
- The petition cites Gutiérrez’s August 27 interview in which he linked a possible dissolution of Congress to a large rise in presidential approval and to S/3,000 million in annual savings as politicizing a constitutionally independent office.
- A Cuarto Poder report that cites a Contraloría control document underpins additional charges that several hires and promotions at the Defensoría lacked required experience and showed patterns of prior contact with the ombudsman’s office.
- Next the Senate president must refer the case to the Comisión de Procedimientos Especiales, which will have 30 working days to review evidence and seek descargos before a full Senate vote that would need 40 of 60 votes to remove him.
- Separately, the Contraloría has opened an information-gathering process and the Ministerio Público has included Gutiérrez in an investigation tied to at least one contested hiring, raising the prospect of parallel administrative or criminal outcomes and further damage to the Defensoría’s public standing.