Peru has a female president for the first time, after ex-president Pedro Castillo was impeached – hours after he tried to dissolve parliament.
Dina Boluarte – previously the vice-president – was sworn in after a dramatic day in Lima on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Mr Castillo had said he was replacing Congress with an “exceptional emergency government”.
But lawmakers ignored this, and in an emergency meeting impeached him. He was then detained and accused of rebellion.
Ms Boluarte, a 60-year-old lawyer, said she would govern until July 2026, which is when Mr Castillo’s presidency would have ended.
Speaking after taking the oath of office, she called for a political truce to overcome the crisis which has gripped the country.
“What I ask for is a space, a time to rescue the country,” she said.
Wednesday’s dramatic chain of events began with President Pedro Castillo giving an address on national television in which he declared a state of emergency.
He announced that he would dissolve the opposition-controlled Congress, a move which was met with shock both in Peru – several ministers resigned in protest – and abroad.
The head of the constitutional court accused him of launching a coup d’etat, while the US “strongly urged” Mr Castillo to reverse his decision.
Peru’s police and armed forces released a joint statement in which they said they respected the constitutional order.
Mr Castillo tried to dissolve Congress just hours before it was due to start fresh impeachment proceedings against him – the third since he came to office in July 2021.
In his televised address he said: “In response to citizens’ demands throughout the length and breadth of the country, we have taken the decision to establish a government of exception, to reestablish the rule of law and democracy to which effect the following measures are dictated: to dissolve Congress temporarily, to install a government of exceptional emergency, to call to the shortest term possible to elections for a new Congress with the ability to draft a new Constitution.”
He said that “a new Congress with constituent powers to draw up a new constitution” would be convened “within no more than nine months”.
But Congress, which is controlled by parties opposed to Mr Castillo, convened an emergency session and held the impeachment vote Mr Castillo had been trying to prevent.
The result was overwhelming: 101 voted in favour of impeaching him, with only six against and 10 abstentions.
After the impeachment, Mr Castillo was seen on police premises.
In the photos – which were shared by police on Twitter but subsequently deleted – he could be seen sitting, seemingly relaxed, and chatting to others. Footage was then released of Mr Castillo signing papers with prosecutors.
He was later detained and accused of rebellion for breaking the constitutional order.
Peru has been going through a rocky political period, with multiple presidents ousted from office in recent years. In 2020, it had three presidents within the space of five days.
Mr Castillo, who is a left-wing former school teacher, was elected in June 2021 in a polarising election in which he defeated his right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori.
He had recently been fighting allegations of corruption, which he said were part of a plot to oust him.
Lawmakers removed Castillo from office as a result of “permanent moral incapacity.” This was their third attempt to remove him from power. The vote came about following new corruption allegations.
The head of Peru’s army and four ministers promptly resigned in response to Castillo’s announcement.
“I strongly condemn this coup d’état and call on the international community to assist in the democratic re-establishment of democracy in Peru,” Foreign Minister César Landa—who was among those who resigned en masse from the cabinet—said on Twitter. “Castillo took this decision without my knowledge or support.”
Peru’s armed forces and police also wrote in a statement that they rejected Castillo’s call to dissolve Congress.
The ombudsman’s office labeled Castillo’s actions as a coup, demanded his immediate resignation and requested that he turn himself in to judicial authorities. “Mr. Castillo must remember that he was not only elected president of the republic, but also that the people elected representatives for public service,” the ombudsman’s statement said, per the AP. “Castillo’s actions ignore the will of the people and are invalid.”
What happens now?
Boluarte will now take Castillo’s place as President. She was sworn in on Wednesday afternoon, becoming the first woman to serve as Peru’s president.
It’s unclear how long she may stay in power. While Boluarte won’t necessarily be seen as an extension of Castillo as she has remained somewhat distant from him, opponents may still view her as a leftist and communist, according to Levitsky. “It’s not hard to imagine them turning against her as well,” he says.
Castillo rose up the political ranks from humble beginnings, working in a poor farming community and later as a schoolteacher and union activist. He was elected to the presidency without any governing experience. His tenure has been marred by corruption allegations. “He just carried out old fashioned, petty, stupid corruption … you give out contracts and favors to your old friends and family,” Levitsky says.
Federal prosecutors are investigating half a dozen cases against him—many of them alleging corruption. He has denied the charges. Castillo has been accused by top prosecutors of using his power to profit off government contracts and leading a criminal organization in the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
To Levitsky, Castillo’s call to dissolve Congress reinforced both his incompetence as a ruler and the resilience of Peruvian democracy. “The President tried to kill Peruvian democracy and Peruvian democracy survived … For all of its flaws, democracy persists.”
From BBC, Time