LIMA, Peru
Peru's leftist president Pedro
Castillo was Wednesday ousted by lawmakers and arrested after trying to
dissolve the South American country's Congress in a move widely condemned as an
attempted coup.Impeached President Pedro Castillo (2nd left) speaking with Peruvian prosecutors in Lima on December 7, 2022 after the Congress voted to oust him.
The dizzying series of events
in a country long prone to political upheaval resulted in even more history,
with Vice President Dina Boluarte later becoming Peru's first woman president.
The day of high drama began
with Castillo facing his third impeachment attempt since the former rural
school teacher unexpectedly won power from Peru's traditional political elite
18 months ago.
In a televised address, the
53-year-old announced he was dissolving the opposition-dominated Congress,
installing a curfew, and would rule by decree for at least nine months.
As criticism poured in over
the speech, lawmakers defiantly gathered earlier than planned to debate the
impeachment motion and approved it with 101 votes out of a total of 130
lawmakers.
Castillo left the presidential
palace after the vote with the intention of seeking asylum in Mexico's embassy
before he was arrested, according to a police report published by local press.
After his arrest was
officially announced, a source in the attorney-general's office told AFP that
Castillo was being investigated for "rebellion."
Boluarte took the oath of
office within two hours of the impeachment vote, donning the presidential sash
in front of Congress.
During the ceremony, she said
"there was an attempted coup by Mr Pedro Castillo that did not receive any
support in the democratic institutions or out in the streets."
She said she intends to serve
out the rest of Castillo's term, until July 2026.
A 60-year-old lawyer and
mother, Boluarte had become one of the Castillo government's best-known faces
due to her position as Minister of Development and Social Inclusion, a post she
held simultaneously with the vice presidency up until two weeks ago, when
Castillo reshuffled his cabinet a fifth time.
Castillo was transferred later
Wednesday to a police facility in east Lima, where graft-convicted former
president Alberto Fujimori — himself removed by Congress in 2000 — is serving
out his sentence.
Peru is no stranger to
political instability: it is now on its sixth president since 2016 and during
one five-day period in 2020 had three different presidents.
Against that chaotic backdrop,
Castillo came out of seemingly nowhere to narrowly win the June 2021 runoff
election against right-wing Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of the convicted
former president who herself faced charges of corruption.
Born in a small village where
he worked as a teacher for 24 years, Castillo was largely unknown until he led
a national strike in 2017 that forced the government to agree to pay rise
demands.
After his election,
allegations against Castillo quickly flooded in.
He is facing investigations
into alleged wrongdoing ranging from graft and obstruction of justice to
plagiarising his university thesis.
Castillo and his lawyers have
long argued the probes are part of a plot to unseat him.
Searching for more evidence in
its corruption probe, investigators from the public prosecutor's office entered
the government palace Wednesday night to search the presidential chambers.
Hundreds of protesters for and
against Castillo gathered in front of Congress Wednesday.
"We are tired of this
corrupt government that was stealing from day one," said 51-year-old
Johana Salazar.
Ricardo Palomino, 50, a
systems engineer, said Castillo's attempt to dissolve parliament was
"totally unacceptable and unconstitutional. It went against everything and
these are the consequences."
But retired soldier Manuel
Gaviria, 59, told AFP he had shown up "to denounce the
fact that our president has been kidnapped by the national police, that he has
been detained with premeditation and treachery by Congress."
Ahead of the impeachment, the
United States demanded Castillo "reverse his decision," and said
after the vote that it no longer considered him to be the president.
"My understanding is
that, given the action of the Congress, he is now former president
Castillo," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters, saying
lawmakers took "corrective action" in line with democratic rules.
Latin American governments
voiced deep concern and appealed for respect for democracy, but there were also
hints of support for Castillo from fellow leftist leaders.
Mexican President Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador, one of Castillo's staunchest allies, blamed
"economic and political elites" for creating a hostile environment
since the beginning of his "legitimate presidency."
The government of Gustavo
Petro, Colombia's first left-wing president, called for dialogue involving
"all political actors," adding that "democracy requires the
recognition of the popular will expressed both in the elections for president
and for Congress."
Brazil was more critical of
Castillo, calling his attempt to dissolve Congress a "violation" of
democracy and the rule of law.
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