Pedro Castillo is dismissed and arrested after announcing an 'exceptional government' in Peru; vice assumes presidency

(Note updated at 18:19 pm)

“The following measures were issued: temporarily dissolve the Congress of the Republic and establish an exceptional emergency government; convene as soon as possible a new Congress with constituent powers to draft a new Constitution within a period not exceeding nine months,” he declared Pedro Castillo in a message to the nation from the government palace, broadcast on television.

He also imposed a curfew all over the country. Even with the announcement of the dissolution of Congress, the deputies decided to vote on the impeachment.

The Constitutional Court (Supreme Court) of Peru called the act coup and asked the country's vice president, Dina Boluarte, assume the presidency – a few weeks ago, Boluarte broke with Castillo.

In a statement, the Peruvian Armed Forces and the National Police said they will remain faithful to the Constitution and will not comply with any order contrary to the country's Magna Carta.

At around 14:40 p.m., the terms Peru, Pedro Castillo e coup were among the most talked about topics on Twitter.

The vice president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, spoke out on social media, denouncing “a coup d’état”.

Is it possible to dissolve Congress?

A dissolution of Congress Peruvian is not an uncommon practice in the country in recent decades, as Constitution elaborated during the government of Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) allows the president to dissolve Parliament and call new elections.

• Peru has a unique political system that 'allows' Congress to be dissolved; see questions and answers (G1)

In 2019, the country's then president, Martín Vizcarra, adopted a similar measure to increase his political capital, but did not establish an emergency government, nor did he talk about changing the Constitution, both measures announced by Castle this afternoon.

Destitute

The president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, was dismissed by the country's Congress. After decreeingstate of exception', an emergency session of Parliament was called and Castle dismissed due to “permanent moral incapacity”.

He was removed from office with 101 votes in favor of the measure — 87 are needed to overthrow the president. There were six votes against and ten abstentions.

Congress called Dina Boluarte, Castillo's vice president, to assume the presidency. She must be sworn in at 15pm in Lima (17pm in Brasília).

Prisoner

According to the newspaper “El Comércio”, the president Pedro Castillo was detained. He left the Government Palace and was taken to Lima City Hall.

Peruvian TV showed Castillo and his family leaving the palace. In addition to him, there were his wife, Lilia Paredes, his children and his sister-in-law. They were detained when they were removing their belongings in bags.

Dina Boluarte, the first woman to lead the country

Dina Boluarte, who was Pedro Castillo's vice president, assumed the presidency of Peru this Wednesday (7) and thus became the first woman to lead the country.

(With AFP)

Read also

What a coup d'état is and how it is constructed. “They will not pass!”

Hated by the Brazilian progressive camp and recently very present in the vocabulary of supporters of the right, which has governed Brazil for four years, the word coup, in itself, refers to something bad. Sudden and violent movement, bruise, violent blow are some of its meanings listed in dictionaries. When talking about a coup d'état, things get worse, because the expression presupposes a break with established rules and Brazilians know very well what that means. Curto explain a little more.