Peru’s President Pedro Castillo was ousted by lawmakers on Wednesday after he tried to shut down Congress before a vote on his impeachment, sparking a long-running political crisis.
Subsequently, Dina Boluarte, Castillo’s vice president, was sworn in as Peru’s first female president. “There has been a coup attempt,” Boluarte said during a hastily organized ceremony. “I assume the position of president aware of the responsibility that is being asked of me.”
Castillo was arrested at Lima’s city hall on Wednesday afternoon and charged with “rebellion,” Peru’s prosecutor’s office said. “We condemn the breach of the constitutional order,” he said in a statement. “No authority can be placed above the constitution.”
Earlier Wednesday, just hours before lawmakers began debating whether to impeach Castillo for “moral incapacity,” the president gave a televised speech in which he declared Congress dissolved. “We made the decision to establish a state of emergency,” he said.
But what political opponents described as a coup detonated almost immediately as it became clear that the army, police and Castillo’s own cabinet were unprepared to support him.
Shortly after Castillo’s attempt to dissolve Congress, lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to remove him from office. The president of Peru’s Constitutional Court said in a live broadcast that Castillo was attempting a “coup d’état.”
The armed forces and the police distanced themselves from Castillo. In a joint statement, they said the president could only dissolve Congress after two no-confidence votes in a government, and that anything else would be a “violation of the constitution.”
Castillo and members of his family have been under investigation for months after repeated accusations of corruption and influence peddling. The president’s lack of political experience has meant a chaotic administration, with dozens of cabinet changes since he took power in July 2021 and the government remaining largely paralyzed.
Lisa Kenna, the US ambassador to Peru, was quick to condemn Castillo’s attempt on Wednesday to shut down Congress. “The United States categorically rejects any extra-constitutional act by President Castillo to prevent Congress from fulfilling its mandate,” he wrote on Twitter.
Prime Minister Castillo and nine of his ministers announced their resignations almost immediately, saying they could not support the move.
Castillo had survived two previous impeachment attempts, thanks to his ability to keep a third of the opposition-led congress on his side. Eighty-seven votes are needed in the 130-seat chamber to impeach a president.
Dina Boluarte, Castillo’s vice president, was sworn in as president Wednesday afternoon © AP
“The democratic system in Peru has broken down,” said Denisse Rodríguez-Olivari, a leading political researcher at the European University Institute’s School of Transnational Governance, calling Castillo’s move a “self-coup.”
The sol, Peru’s currency, initially weakened 2 percent to trade at 3.9128 per US dollar, its lowest level in nearly a month. It reversed course in the afternoon, rising 0.3% on the day to 3.8226 per dollar.
But instability in Peru, which has now had eight presidents since 2011, is likely to continue. More than 70 ministers have passed through the revolving doors of Castillo’s government, of which the new president Boluarte was a key member.
Castillo has denied the accusations against him and described the impeachment proceedings as the latest attempt to subvert the will of the voters. She narrowly won a five-year term last year on a radical leftist manifesto, defeating right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori in a runoff.
His attempt to seize absolute power by shutting down congress was reminiscent of a similar move by Fujimori’s authoritarian father in 1992, Alberto Fujimori succeeded after receiving the support of the military and ruled for another eight years, but eventually he ended up in prison.
“Thirty years later, we doubt the military wants blood on its hands for this,” said Eileen Gavin, principal analyst at risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft, referring to the lack of support from the army in Castillo.
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Its third finance minister of the year, Kurt Burneo, was among those who resigned on Wednesday. Burneo had acknowledged last month that political dysfunction was hurting the business climate in Peru, which once boasted one of the most robust economies in Latin America and is the world’s second largest copper producer. In October, credit rating agency Fitch revised Peru’s outlook from “stable” to “negative”.
A report released last week after a high-level visit by the Organization of American States found that “political fragmentation” has put democratic institutions at risk and recommended a “truce” while “coming to a minimum consensus to guarantee governability”.
The foreign ministries of Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Colombia issued statements showing concern. The summit of the Pacific Alliance, a trade bloc that includes Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, which was scheduled for December 14 in Lima, has been postponed, Mexico’s foreign ministry said in a communicated
Mexico’s foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, suggested in a radio interview that his country would be open to granting asylum to Castillo if he requested it.
Additional reporting by Peter Wells in New York and David Agren in Mexico City