As a result of former president Pedro Castillo’s impeachment, Peru now has its first-ever female head of state. This comes just hours after Castillo attempted to dissolve parliament. After a dramatic day in Lima on Wednesday, Dina Boluarte, who had previously served as the vice president, was sworn in as president.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Castillo had announced that he would be dissolving Congress and establishing an “extraordinary emergency government.” But lawmakers disregarded this, and in a hastily called meeting, they decided to impeach him. After that, he was taken into custody and charged with insurrection.
When he was taken into custody, it is reported in the regional press that he was on his way to the Mexican embassy in the nation’s capital. Ms. Boluarte, a lawyer in her 60s, declared that she would serve as president until July 2026, the month in which Mr. Castillo’s term as president would have come to an end.
In her first public remarks after taking the oath of office, she pleaded for a political cease-fire as a means of resolving the crisis that has beset the nation. “What I ask for is a space, a time to salvage the country,” she added. “What I ask for is a space, a time.”
The dramatic chain of events that happened on Wednesday started when President Pedro Castillo gave a speech on national TV in which he declared a state of emergency. He said he would get rid of Congress, which was run by the opposition. This shocked people in Peru and around the world, and several ministers quit in protest.
In the meantime, the head of the constitutional court accused Mr. Castillo of orchestrating a coup d’etat, and the United States “seriously pushed” Mr. Castillo to rescind his judgment. In a unified statement, the Peruvian police and armed forces expressed their adherence to the constitutional order and stressed they would not violate it.
Mr. Castillo attempted to get rid of Congress only a few hours before it was scheduled to begin new impeachment procedures against him. These would have been the third such proceedings since he took office in July 2021.
During his broadcast address, he made the following statement: “In response to citizens’ requests throughout the length and width of the country, we have chosen to establish an exceptional government with the goal of re-establishing the rule of law and democracy.”
He stated that “after little more than nine months,” a “new Congress with constituent powers to draw up a new constitution” would be summoned. However, Congress, which is controlled by parties that are opposed to Mr. Castillo, convened an extraordinary session and held the vote on impeachment that Mr. Castillo was seeking to prevent from happening. The result was resoundingly positive: 101 people voted in favor of impeaching him, while only six people voted against it and 10 people abstained from voting.
After his impeachment, Mr. Castillo was observed on the premises of the police department. In the images, which were initially posted by the police on Twitter but have since been taken down, he can be seen sitting with a casual expression on his face while conversing with other people. After that, a video of Mr. Castillo signing documents beside the prosecutors was made public.
After some time had passed, he was taken into custody and accused of insurrection for violating the constitutional order. In the past few years, Peru has had multiple presidents removed from power, which indicates that the country’s political climate is unstable. In the year 2020, the country had three presidents in just five days.
In the divisive election held in June 2021, Mr. Castillo, a former school teacher who holds a left-wing ideology, prevailed over Ms. Fujimori, who held a right-wing ideology, to win the position of president. Recently, he has been defending himself against claims of corruption, which he claimed were part of a scheme to remove him from office.
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