Peru gets its first female president in Dina Boluarte after Pedro Castillo is impeached and arrested

Just hours after attempting to dissolve the country's Congress, Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was ousted following an emergency impeachment vote in the same Congress. Castillo's attempts to dissolve Congress by decree had previously plunged the country into a constitutional crisis.

His supporters clashed with the riot policein front of the police station where the now ex-leader was reported to be after the vote to remove him.

Peru's lawmakers ignored Castillo's attempts and move ahead with previously planned impeachment trial. 101 lawmakers voted to remove him, six were against. There were 10 abstentions. The result was announced with loud cheers and the legislature called Vice President Dina Boluarte to take office.

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Peruvian politician Dina Boluarte was sworn in as president through 2026, making her the first woman to lead Peru. After beingelevated from the position of vice president, Boluarte slammed Castillo's move to dissolve Congress as an "attempted coup".

The public ministry said on Wednesday evening that Castillo had been detained and accused of"rebellion" for breaking the constitutional order.

After the vote, Peru's national police tweeted an image of Castillo sitting at a police station and said that it had "intervened" to fulfill its duties. It referred to Castillo as "ex-president".

Earlier while attempting to dissolve the Congress, Castillo had said that he would launch a "government of exception" and called for new legislative elections.

The declaration sparked resignations by key ministers from his government and attracted allegations of a "coup" from opposition as well as allies. The police and Armed Forces warned him that the route he had taken to try to dissolve Congress was unconstitutional.

Congress summoned Castillo last week to respond to accusations of "moral incapacity" to govern. The prosecutor's office in October filed a constitutional complaint against Castillo for allegedly leading "a criminal organization" to profit from state contracts and for obstructing investigations.

Castillo has called the allegations "slander" by groups seeking "to take advantage and seize the power that the people took from them at the polls."

The leftist teacher-turned-president has survived two previous attempts to impeach him since he began his term in July 2021.

Castillo's move to dissolve the Congress had elicited displeasure from the US. Washington welcomed the appointment of Dina Boluarte as President of Peru.

"We commend Peruvian institutions and civil authorities for assuring democratic stability and will continue to support Peru under the unity government President Boluarte pledged to form," a USState Department spokesperson said in a statement.

(With inputs from agencies)

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