The Peruvian president, Dina Boluarte, was removed this Friday, October 10, by Congress, just hours after several political groups presented the first motions for his removal due to reasons of moral incapacity following accusations of corruption, but also due to the growing wave of crimes in the country.
“The dismissal of the president has been approved”, announced the leader of the Peruvian Congress, José Jerí, at the end of a session to which Dina Boluarte did not attend, despite having been summoned.
About an hour later, Jerí was elected by the deputies as the country’s new president, having taken office shortly afterwards. Peru’s seventh president since 2016, made it known that he will take a tough approach to insecurity, saying that “the main enemy is on the streets: criminal gangs”. “We must declare war on crime,” he added.
Boluarte had already been the subject of several attempts to dismiss him, but without success. This time, the right-wing and extreme-right parties that had supported the head of state until now backed away.
The now former head of state faces a high rate of unpopularity, with her mandate being marked by scandals such as Rolexgate, regarding luxury jewelry and watches that she did not declare, and a rhinoplasty performed in July 2023, kept secret, thus breaking the law.
At the same time, in recent weeks, protests against his Executive grew following a wave of extortion and murders attributed to organized crime.
Shortly after being dismissed, Boluarte spoke at the presidential palace, where she acknowledged that the same Congress that had sworn her in at the end of 2022 (following the dismissal of then-president Pedro Castillo) had now voted to remove her, “with the implications that this has for the stability of democracy in our country”. “At all times, I called for unity,” he added.