Peru President Pedro Castillo Ousted After Attempting to Dissolve Congress
Vice President Dina Boluarte has been sworn in as the new president of the mineral-rich South American country
By Ryan DubeFollow
LIMA, Peru—Peru’s Congress overwhelmingly voted to remove President Pedro Castillo from office on Wednesday afternoon, shortly after the Peruvian leader plunged this country into turmoil by announcing he would dissolve the legislature to avoid impeachment.
Lawmakers declared Mr. Castillo morally unfit to hold office in a vote that will see Vice President Dina Boluarte take over as the head of state in the mineral-rich country of 33 million. It remained unclear what would happen next in a constitutional crisis that began when Mr. Castillo, a deeply unpopular former rural schoolteacher who improbably won the presidency last year, set out to avoid an impeachment vote that was to take place late Wednesday.
Local media reported that Mr. Castillo had been detained by police, but The Wall Street Journal couldn’t independently verify the reports.
“I reject the decision by Pedro Castillo to rupture the constitutional order with the closure of Congress,” said Ms. Boluarte. “This is a coup d’état that has worsened the political and institutional crisis.”
Lawmakers declared President Pedro Castillo morally unfit to hold office.PHOTO: MARTIN MEJIA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mr. Castillo announced his coming move against Congress hours before lawmakers were set to debate the impeachment motion, the third against him in a 17-month-long rule in which he has faced corruption accusations and been engulfed in several political scandals. He regularly replaced ministers and other high-ranking government officials, affecting investments in one of the world’s biggest copper-producers, a country that for years was lauded for its macroeconomics.
\But Peru has been mired in political turmoil for the past six years and walloped by the pandemic, leading to an increase in joblessness and undermining public trust in a fragmented political class with weak political parties and racked by corruption scandals. In recent years, prosecutors accused four former presidents in graft cases.
The president’s announcement in the morning, saying he would dissolve Congress, led to a swift backlash. Top military commanders said they would only obey the constitutional order and Congress quickly convened to move against him. Former presidents and some of Mr. Castillo’s own ministers called him an autocrat and his plan a coup d’état.
Mr. Castillo, a former schoolteacher from the rural highlands, had said he would install an “exceptional emergency government” that would rule by decree while new elections for Congress were organized. He called for writing a new constitution and said a national curfew would be implemented.
“Congress has destroyed the rule of law, democracy, the separation and balance of powers…with the goal of destroying the presidency and installing a congressional dictatorship,” Mr. Castillo asserted in an address. He accused lawmakers along with elites in business and media of conspiring against him, adding they had made it impossible for a farmer like him to govern the country.
Mr. Castillo’s announcement reminded many people of President Alberto Fujimori‘s 1992 closing of congress and closing of the courts, which became known as a self-coup in which he neutered those in the state who opposed him. Mr. Fujimori was later jailed on corruption and human-rights crimes.
Vice President Dina Boluarte was sworn in as Peru’s new president in Lima on Wednesday.PHOTO: PAOLO AGUILAR/SHUTTERSTOCK
Francisco Morales, the head of Peru’s top court, said Mr. Castillo had launched a coup that would fail because of the president’s lack of support. Attorney General Patricia Benavides said Mr. Castillo had broken the constitutional order, while former President Ollanta Humala and opposition politicians called the Peruvian leader a dictator.
“What’s happened in Peru is literally a coup d’état,” said Fernando Tuesta, a political scientist and former chief of Peru’s election board. He added that Mr. Castillo’s actions amounted to a usurpation of power and violated Peru’s constitution. “If he had low legitimacy before, now he’s even lost legality.”
In a 10-minute address, Mr. Castillo said elections for a new Congress would be called in no more than nine months. The entire justice system, he added, would be reorganized and national police, with the help of the armed forces, would dedicate all of their effort to fighting crime, corruption, and drug trafficking, receiving all of the funding they need.
Earlier Wednesday, the commander of Peru’s army, Gen. Walter Córdova, announced his resignation, citing personal reasons. Labor Minister Alejandro Salas resigned, while Benji Espinoza, the president’s lawyer who planned to defend him during the impeachment vote, said he was cutting ties with Mr. Castillo.
“Today, the government has decided to sabotage democracy,” said Ruth Luque, a congresswoman who had previously supported the president.
Wall Street Journal