The president José Jerí spoke after the meeting with the Chinese businessman Zhihua Yang in a chifa in San Borja on December 26, in which he was caught hooded late at night. Through a video broadcast in the early hours of Sunday, January 18, by the official account of the Presidency, Jeri He assured that that day, he himself invited the Minister of the Interior to dinner, Vicente Tiburcioand his escort “during normal and prudent opening hours” at the premises of “Mr. Johnny”, whom he has known for some time.
What Jerí forgot to mention is that this is not the first time that the aforementioned businessman has met with people directly linked to the Executive. As verified by this media, in the visit control system, a total of three formal visits to the Government Palace are identified between December 2025 and January 2026. The appointments appear as work meetings with officials from the communications area of the Presidency.
The first admission occurred on December 12, 2025. That day, Yang Zhihua went to the Executive headquarters as an individual and held a meeting with Mirelia Liz Cano Gutiérrez, member of the Undersecretary of Strategic Communication and Institutional Image.
The second and third visits occurred on December 29, 2025 and January 5, 2026. On both dates, the Chinese businessman was received by Johanna Mercedes Ocampo Santos de Velachaga, an official from the Secretariat of Strategic Communication and Press. The meetings were recorded as work meetings during office hours.
The head of state backed down in his attempt to continue justifying the dinner with Yang and apologized for the way he entered said premises. At the aforementioned meeting, according to a report from Punto Final, the president arrived aboard the official vehicle called ‘presidential chest’.
“You have to know how to recognize mistakes and know how to apologize. Therefore, to every Peruvian who is watching me, I admit my mistake and I apologize publicly for having entered the way I did: hooded; and that this has given rise to suspicions and doubts,” he said.
Seconds before apologizing, Jerí tried to minimize his “mistake” by mentioning that, before taking office as president, “he promised himself that he would govern based on my way of being” and that “the position was not going to encapsulate him.”
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On the other hand, Jerí tried to excuse his meeting with the Chinese businessman by distancing himself from the actions of his predecessor Pedro Castillo, who was captured visiting a home in the Sarratea passage, located in the Breña district, and receiving undocumented visits in that place.
“I must recognize that in our country there have been recent situations with former presidents and that they still generate sensitivity in public opinion and that has given rise to linking my going out at night to eat with past episodes,” he said.
They announce the presentation of a vacancy motion against José Jerí after meeting with a Chinese businessman
The congressman Second Montalvofrom the bench Free Peruannounced that it will include the recent meeting between Jerí and a Chinese businessman as one of the reasons in the vacancy motion that it will present against the president. Previously, Montalvo had indicated that he would promote this motion due to the emergency decree published in the New Year, which leads to the privatization of Petroperú.
The parliamentarian stated that the meeting in which Jerí was seen hooded is a serious and unprecedented event for a president. In addition, he expressed his rejection of the president’s statements justifying his actions. The Perulibrist legislator is collecting the necessary signatures for the presentation of the motion.
On the other hand, the interim president of Congress, Fernando Rospigliosiminimized the fact and pointed out: “He likes chifa, well, leave him.”
Along the same lines, Rospigliosi described as “absurd” to promote a vacancy motion against Jerí in the run-up to the General Elections.
The legislator of the Socialist Caucus, Jaime Quitosubmitted a request to the Oversight Commission to summon Jerí to answer about the meeting with the Chinese businessman. “There is less and less doubt that this regime is a continuation of Dina Boluarte’s management,” he published on his official X account.
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of Libertad Popular, Rafael Belaúnde, criticized the president and referred to said meeting as “unacceptable” and that, if it were not for the electoral elections, a vacancy would correspond to Jerí.
“That the president is walking around bars at dawn hooded, meeting with businessmen of dubious reputation, seems to me to be unacceptable. Unacceptable and in any other context other than a context two and a half months before the elections, it would be grounds for him to be removed from office,” he declared.
From the Somos Perú bench to which Jerí belongs, Congressman Héctor Valer mentioned that “a president cannot be in a mechanism of corruption.” In addition, he questioned whether he met with the businessman late at night in a “clandestine manner.”
Chinese businessman who met with José Jerí at a chifa also visited the Government Palace on 3 occasions
The Chinese businessman who held a private meeting with President Jerí in a chifa in San Borja also made three official visits to the Government Palace between December 2025 and January 2026, according to official income records. These meetings are registered as work meetings with officials from the communications area of the Presidency, as reported by La Encerrona and confirmed by this medium.
On December 12, 2025, Yang Zhihua entered the Government Palace as an individual and met with Mirelia Liz Cano Gutiérrez, member of the Undersecretary of Strategic Communication and Institutional Image, according to the visit control system.
The Chinese businessman made his second and third visits to the Government Palace on December 29, 2025 and January 5, 2026, respectively. On both occasions, he was received by Johanna Mercedes Ocampo Santos de Velachaga, official of the Secretariat of Strategic Communication and Press. The meetings were recorded as work meetings during office hours.
