Seven Keys to Political Unrest in Peru

An impeachment vote, an arrest, a new president.

The Peruvian government experienced a day of political drama which represented a new challenge for South American democracy.

Peru has been wracked in recent years by political turmoil, rapid changes of president, and ongoing scandals and investigations.

But Wednesday was maybe one of the days more tumultuous of the country’s recent history.

Congress was due to vote in the afternoon on whether or not to remove the president, Peter Castilloon charges of corruption.

However, the president, seeking to obstruct the vote, announced the dissolution of Congress and the installation of an emergency government, in what was quickly and widely condemned as an attempted coup.

The move shocked even the president’s allies, and by the end of the day, Castillo had been ousted and was under arrest.

Dina Bolarte, his vice president, became president, the first woman to lead Peru.

The political drama is the latest challenge for the country’s young democracy, but it is also, perhaps, a sign of its resilience.

This is what we know so far.

Who is Pietro Castillo?

Castillo, 53, was elected president last year and comes from a family of illiterate peasant parents in an impoverished rural region with no sewage system and no access to health care and schooling.

Even after becoming a teacher, Castillo took up farming to supplement his income. He became a union activist and helped organize a strike to improve teachers’ salaries.

Castillo, a socialist leader, attracted frustrated voters from the political class.

He campaigned under the slogan “No more poor people in a rich country” and with the promise of improving the country’s economy and reducing its chronic inequality.

High poverty rates have also worsened during the coronavirus pandemic, rising by about 10%, one of the steepest increases not only in Latin America but in the world, according to Hugo Ñopo, a senior economist at the World Bank.

But although it was billed as a break with the country’s corrupt past, it was soon embroiled in scandals and failed to deliver on many of its promises.

Why was he facing impeachment?