Peru’s president Pedro Castillo was ousted by lawmakers on Wednesday after attempting to shut down congress before a vote on his impeachment, bringing to a boil a long-simmering political crisis in the Andean nation.
Dina Boluarte, Castillo’s vice-president, was later sworn in as Peru’s first female president. “There has been an attempted coup d’état,” Boluarte said during a hastily arranged ceremony. “I assume the position of president aware of the responsibility required of me.”
Just hours before lawmakers were set to begin debating whether to impeach Castillo on grounds of “moral incapacity”, the president delivered a televised speech declaring congress dissolved. “We took the decision to establish a state of emergency,” he said.