LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s Congress voted early Friday to take away deeply unpopular President Dina Boluarte from workplace as a criminal offense wave grips the South American nation and rapidly changed her with 38-year-old lawyer José Jerí, the legislative physique’s chief.
Lawmakers had arrange a debate and impeachment trial late Thursday within the 130-member unicameral Congress after voting to simply accept 4 requests for a vote to take away Boluarte from workplace over what they mentioned was her authorities’s incapability to stem crime.
They requested that Boluarte come earlier than them shortly earlier than midnight to defend herself, however when she didn’t seem they instantly voted to oust her. In brief order, 124 lawmakers voted simply previous midnight to question Boluarte. There have been no votes towards the trouble.
The surprising flip of occasions got here simply hours after a capturing at a live performance within the capital infected anger over crime roiling the nation.
Not like eight earlier makes an attempt to take away Boluarte, nearly all legislative factions expressed help for the most recent requests.
Boluarte, Peru’s first feminine president, took workplace in December 2022 after Parliament used the identical mechanism to question her predecessor.
After Friday’s vote, Boluarte spoke on nationwide tv, recounting her administration’s achievements.
“I have not thought of myself, but rather of Peruvians,” she mentioned.
Minutes into her speech, the printed was interrupted to indicate Jerí’s swearing in.
Jerí, the president of the Congress, was sworn in early Friday because the interim president to serve out Boluarte’s time period. Elections are scheduled for subsequent April and Boluarte’s time period was to finish July 28, 2026.
Jerí mentioned he would defend Peru’s sovereignty and hand over energy to the winner of the April election.
Boluarte was Peru’s sixth chief in just below a decade. A standard presidential time period is 5 years.
Taylor Hill through Getty Photos
She assumed energy in Peru in 2022 to finish the time period of then-President Pedro Castillo, who was faraway from workplace simply two years into his five-year time period after trying to dissolve the legislature to keep away from his personal elimination. She had served as Castillo’s vp earlier than turning into president.
There have been greater than 500 protests demanding her resignation within the first three months of her presidency.
Stricken by scandals, her administration’s incapability to deal with Peru’s incessant crime proved to be her undoing.
On Wednesday, she partially blamed the scenario on immigrants residing within the nation illegally.
“This crime has been brewing for decades and has been strengthened by illegal immigration, which past administrations haven’t defeated,” she mentioned throughout a army ceremony. “Instead, they’ve opened the doors of our borders and allowed criminals to enter everywhere… without any restrictions.”
Official figures present that 6,041 individuals have been killed between January and mid-August, the best quantity throughout the identical interval since 2017. In the meantime, extortion complaints totaled 15,989 between January and July, a 28% improve in comparison with the identical interval in 2024.
The nation’s newest presidential disaster erupted after a person opened hearth and injured 5 individuals Wednesday throughout a live performance of Peru’s hottest cumbia teams, Agua Marina.
Prime Minister Eduardo Arana on Thursday defended Boluarte throughout a crime-focused listening to earlier than Parliament, however it was not sufficient to dissuade lawmakers from pursuing the motions to see the president out of workplace.
“Parliament’s concerns are not resolved by addressing a request for impeachment, much less by approving it,” Arana instructed lawmakers. “We are not clinging to our positions. We are here, and we knew from the beginning that our first day here could also be our last day in office.”
