Peru's newest president, 83-year-old Balcázar, managed to get summoned to criminal trial before he had even assembled a cabinet — a personal best even by Peru's chaotic standards. The man who holds the record as the country's oldest-ever head of state also holds a rather fuller dossier: removal from the Supreme Court in 2011, formal disbarment in 2022, and a 2023 public statement suggesting child marriage without violence could be developmentally beneficial for girls. Prosecutors are pursuing him on charges spanning judicial misconduct, fraud, identity impersonation, and bribery, making his inauguration less a ceremony and more an arraignment with better catering.

Balcázar is the fourth person to occupy the presidency during the 2021–2026 term, following Castillo, Boluarte, and Jerí, which means Peru has been running through heads of state at a pace that would embarrass a reality TV franchise. The bar association case that triggered the immediate trial summons is merely the opener on a greatest-hits album of alleged misconduct accumulated over decades on the bench. Peruvian democracy, it turns out, is less a system of governance than an elaborate rotating door for individuals with outstanding legal obligations.