Coup d’état in Peru: Keiko Fujimori urges Armed Forces to “uphold constitutional order” and calls on Congress to oust Pedro Castillo

Leader of the Peruvian opposition Keiko Fujimori accused this Wednesday the president of the country, Peter Castilloto carry out a “desperate coup” and urged Congress to fire him and the military for “upholding the constitutional order”.

“Pedro Castillo strikes a desperate blow because he knew he had a few hours left in power. Congress must proceed with the vacancy (removal) and the Armed Forces must uphold the constitutional order,” the leader of the Fuerza Popular party and daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, who masterminded a coup in 1992, wrote on Twitter reported the agency Efe.

Castillo announced in a televised message to the nation that he was dissolving Congress and creating a “government of exception” with only a handful of hours left before Parliament debated and voted on a new motion to impeach him.

The motion was based on the “permanent moral incapacity” of the president, a constitutional figure that has already led to the departure of two leaders since 2018: Martín Vizcarra and Pedo Pablo Kuczynski.

“The following measures are being enacted: temporarily dissolve the Congress of the Republic and set up an exceptional emergency government,” Castillo said in a message to the nation that had not previously been announced by his communications team or on his social networks.

With an evident tremor in his hands, he announced that he was also dictating “as soon as possible the elections of a new Congress with constituent powers to work out a new Constitution in a period not exceeding 9 months”.

He also ordered a nationwide curfew starting this Wednesday from 10pm local time (12pm in Argentina) until 4am (6am in Buenos Aires).

Despite the President’s decision, the Peruvian Congress was also preparing to vote on his dismissal.

At the same time, Castillo left the Government Palace in Lima, accompanied by his relatives and without making a statement to the media, with a still unknown destination.

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