Peru's new president under fire for child sex comments

Rights groups expressed concern Thursday at the choice of 83-year-old Jose Maria Balcazar as Peru's stand-in president given past utterances on girls and under-aged sex.

Balcazar was on Wednesday named Peru's interim leader, for a period of just over five months until the next election, after predecessor Jose Jeri was impeached on graft allegations.

He became the South American country's eighth president in a decade.

But Balcazar's nomination has angered rights and women's groups. 

In 2023, he told a congressional debate about ending child marriage that "early sexual relations aid a woman’s psychological future."

Peru that year passed a legal reform to ban marriage for anyone under 18. Previously, teenagers could get married with their parents' consent.

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The CNDDHH rights coalition expressed concern Thursday at the appointment "of an authority figure with a controversial public record and statements that justify sexual violence against girls."

The Flora Tristan Peruvian Women’s Center, for its part, said the choice was emblematic of a "profound ethical and democratic crisis" in Peru -- where more than half of women reported being a victim of psychological, physical or sexual abuse by a partner, according to government statistics.

"Anyone who minimizes violence against women and girls is not voicing an isolated opinion, but revealing a complacent attitude toward abuse," the center said in a statement.

Balcazar has claimed his words have been distorted and taken out of context.

He is also under investigation for alleged misappropriation of public funds and corruption.

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