Impeachment and arrest of the President of Peru – on charges of coup d’état

An overwhelming majority in parliament (101-6, 10 absent) voted Wednesday to impeach the president. The reason for his removal was stated to be “permanent moral incapacity”.

According to Peru El Comercio Castillo has also already been replaced by Vice President Dina Poulwart, who was sworn in on Wednesday night, SST. Thus, she became the country’s first female president.

The dramatic development followed Castillo’s televised address to the nation, in which he announced that he was “temporarily dissolving Congress…and installing a provisional emergency government” to rule by decree.

Castillo’s announcement of the dissolution of parliament came hours before a debate was to take place to impeach Castillo. It was the third impeachment motion against him since he took office in July 2021.

‘a coup doomed to fail’

I reject Pedro Castillo’s decision to violate the constitutional order by dissolving Congress. “It is a coup that exacerbates the political and institutional crisis,” wrote Vice President Dina Bolowart on Twitter.

Nor did Francisco Morales, the president of the country’s Constitutional Court, adapt the words in accordance with the president’s message.

– Today is a revolution like the twentieth century. It is a coup doomed to fail, Peru wants to live in a democracy. He told RPP radio station that this coup had no legal basis.

SVT’s Latin American correspondent answers three questions about the coup attempt in the clip above.