Dina Boluarte has become Peru’s first female president after her predecessor was arrested and removed from office.
Pedro Castillo was detained on charges of “rebellion” after he announced he would install a “government of exception” just hours before he was due to face an impeachment vote, reported CNN.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
However, Peruvian armed forces rejected Castillo’s attempt to sideline lawmakers, describing it as an “infringement of the constitution”. Castillo, a “bumbling occupant” of the presidency job, said The Economist, was removed from power.
After she was sworn in as Peru’s sixth president in less than five years, Boluarte was applauded and cheered by politicians. “It is up to us to talk, to engage in dialogue, to reach agreements,” the former vice-president said. “I ask for time to rescue our country from corruption and incompetence within the government.”
It remains to be seen how long she survives. A “former lawyer and a member of a Marxist political party until she was pushed out last year for criticising the party leader”, Boluarte, 60, is “not particularly well-known”, said The New York Times. In a recent poll, Peruvians “favoured a new general election” over her replacing Castillo.
Whether she “has the stomach and the political nous” to undertake major political reform is also unclear, wrote Michael Stott for the Financial Times. “In the meantime,” he added, “an authoritarian outsider might try to seize power, though this seems unlikely given the army’s clearly expressed preference for constitutional solutions.”
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designationThe Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
-
Inside the Israel-Turkey geopolitical dance across SyriaTHE EXPLAINER As Syria struggles in the wake of the Assad regime's collapse, its neighbors are carefully coordinating to avoid potential military confrontations
-
'Like a sound from hell': Serbia and sonic weaponsThe Explainer Half a million people sign petition alleging Serbian police used an illegal 'sound cannon' to disrupt anti-government protests
-
The arrest of the Philippines' former president leaves the country's drug war in disarrayIn the Spotlight Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the ICC earlier this month
-
Ukrainian election: who could replace Zelenskyy?The Explainer Donald Trump's 'dictator' jibe raises pressure on Ukraine to the polls while the country is under martial law
