Jose Maria Balcazar speaks as lawmakers arrive at the presidential palace after lawmakers elected him president, a day after they voted to remove interim President Jose Zerini from office, February 18, 2026, in Lima, Peru. | Photo credit: AP
Rights groups expressed concern on Thursday (Feb 19, 2026) over the selection of 83-year-old Jose Maria Balcazar as Peru’s stand-in president, over past comments on girls and underage sex.
Mr Balcazar was named Peru’s interim leader on Wednesday (Feb 18, 2026), just five months until the next election, when predecessor Jose Xeri was impeached on corruption charges.
He became the eighth president of the South American country in a decade.
But Mr Balcazar’s nomination angered rights and women’s groups.
In 2023, he said that “early sex helps a woman’s emotional future” in a congressional debate about ending child marriage.
Peru passed a legal reform that year banning marriage to anyone under 18. Earlier, young people could marry with the consent of their parents.
The CNDDHH Rights Coalition on Thursday (February 19, 2026) expressed concern over the “appointment of an authority figure with a controversial public record and statements advocating sexual violence against girls.”
The Flora Tristan Peruvian Women’s Center, for its part, said the choice symbolizes a “profound moral and democratic crisis” in Peru, where more than half of women report being psychologically, physically or sexually abused by a partner, according to government statistics.
“Anyone who downplays violence against women and girls does not express an isolated opinion, but reveals a complacent attitude toward abuse,” the center said in a statement.
Mr. Balcazar claims his words were twisted and taken out of context. He is also being investigated on allegations of misappropriation of public funds and corruption.
Published – February 20, 2026 05:09 am IST
