Supporters of ousted Peruvian President Pedro Castillo march in San Martin Square in Lima, Peru on Thursday. Peru’s Congress voted to remove Castillo on Wednesday and replace him with the vice president, Dina Boluarte, shortly after Castillo attempted to dissolve the legislature ahead of a scheduled vote to remove him.
Fernando Vergara/AP
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Supporters of ousted Peruvian President Pedro Castillo march in San Martin Square in Lima, Peru on Thursday. Peru’s Congress voted to remove Castillo on Wednesday and replace him with the vice president, Dina Boluarte, shortly after Castillo tried to dissolve the legislature ahead of a scheduled vote to remove him.
Fernando Vergara/AP
LIMA, Peru — Perhaps the most telling detail of this week’s failed coup attempt by Pedro Castillo is the fact that the high stakes gamble may be completely unnecessary.
The current former president of Peru exercised his power in a sudden TV address to the nation on Wednesday morning, in which he announced that he would shut down Congress, “reorganize” the judiciary and rule by decree.
He has no constitutional authority to do so and, it quickly becomes clear, has no support from the armed forces.
The Chaos of Castillo
The move is intended to stave off an impeachment debate over the corruption allegations scheduled for that afternoon. If that debate goes as planned, many here still doubt that Castillo, 53, a former country school teacher and spontaneous strike leader, will actually be overthrown.
Peruvian President Pedro Castillo during a press conference for foreign journalists in Lima on October 11.
Carlos Garcia Granthon/Fotoholica Press/LightRocket/Getty Images
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Peruvian President Pedro Castillo during a press conference for foreign journalists in Lima on October 11.
Carlos Garcia Granthon/Fotoholica Press/LightRocket/Getty Images
Since he took office in July 2021, Castillo’s administration has chaos chaos of extreme left-wing infighting, endless corruption scandals, and incompetence.
During that time, the president largely ignored the poor people he often claimed to represent.
As a result, lawmakers tried twice to impeach him, but each time failed to achieve the required two-thirds majority. Based on Wednesday morning’s frantic vote counting, that scenario seems likely to repeat itself.
Opponents of Peruvian President Pedro Castillo demonstrate outside Lima County on Wednesday.
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Opponents of Peruvian President Pedro Castillo demonstrate outside Lima County on Wednesday.
Image of Ernesto Benavides/AFP/Getty
From traffic jams – to prisons
But Castillo’s speech to the nation, his hands visibly shaking as he clutched his speech paper, changed the calculation.
The takeover of power was so blatant that many members of Congress, who had previously supported the newly erratic politician, felt they had no choice but to vote to remove him. The impeachment debate was underway on an urgent basis and Castillo was ousted by 101 votes to six less than two hours after his dramatic television appearance.
Members of the Peruvian parliament pose for a photo after the vote to impeach President Pedro Castillo in Lima on Wednesday.
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Members of the Peruvian parliament pose for a photo after the vote to impeach President Pedro Castillo in Lima on Wednesday.
Image Chris Bouroncle/AFP/Getty
Then that came after a brief period of uncertainty about the former president’s whereabouts, until it was reported that his SUV had gotten stuck in the often congested traffic in Lima on on the way to the Mexican Embassy, where Castillo had planned to apply for asylum.
He appeared in court for the first time on Thursday, looking sullen after his first night in jail. The judges rejected the attorney’s request for habeas corpus and ordered the former president’s detention for another week.
New President of Peru
Congress Speaker Jose Williams, left, and Senator Jose Cevasco, right, wear a presidential shawl to Vice President Dina Boluarte as she is sworn in as the country’s new president in Lima on Wednesday. Boluarte replaced ousted President Pedro Castillo and became the first female leader in the history of the republic.
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Congress Speaker Jose Williams, left, and Senator Jose Cevasco, right, wear a presidential shawl to Vice President Dina Boluarte as she is sworn in as the country’s new president in Lima on Wednesday. Boluarte replaced ousted President Pedro Castillo and became the first female leader in the history of the republic.
Guadalupe Pardo/AP
Castillo’s vice president, Dina Boluarte, was quickly sworn in. She also hails from his self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist Liberal party but has managed to distance herself from his endless corruption scandals while also keeping her distance from the besieged leader in recent months.
Also a political rookie, it remains unclear whether the 60-year-old lawyer has the political skills to forge a legislative coalition in the Conservative-dominated Parliament and end six years of political turmoil. of the Andean nation or not.
But Boluarte seems better qualified than Castillo – who faces half a dozen different corruption investigations, including one for allegedly falsifying his master’s thesis – and will at least get a honeymoon lasting several months.
Democracy has been tested – and survived
People clash with riot police during a protest demanding the release of former President Pedro Castillo and the shutdown of the Peruvian Congress in Lima on Thursday, a day after Castillo was impeached.
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People clash with riot police during a protest demanding the release of former President Pedro Castillo and the shutdown of the Peruvian Congress in Lima on Thursday, a day after Castillo was impeached.
Image of Ernesto Benavides/AFP/Getty
Another good news for Peru is that although tested to the limit, the country’s democratic institutions have survive this latest attack.
There were only minor and violent street protests and most people seem to understand that, although the motivations of the legislators in seeking to overthrow Castillo may be partly self-interested, ultimately the president still has to go.
Maybe, just maybe, the new government and Congress will eventually find some common ground in addressing the multitude of serious challenges faced by ordinary Peruvians, ranging from endemic food insecurity to the social consequences of the pandemic in a society with the highest Covid-19 mortality rates in the world.
