Dina Boluarte, until now vice president of Peru, became this Wednesday the first female president of that country, after the dismissal of Pedro Castillo by Congress.
By taking the oath in front of Parliament, Boluarte called for a truce on all political forces and promised to fight “for the nobodies and the excluded.”
The new head of state swore “by God, the country and the Constitution” and said that she took office “in accordance with the Political Constitution of Peru, from this moment and until July 28, 2026”, when Castillo’s term was due to end. .
Boluarte added that one of his commitments will be to “defend” national sovereignty and that he will “comply and enforce” the Constitution and the laws of his country.
“Before being a politician, I am a Peruvian citizen and mother, who is fully aware of the high responsibility that history places on my shoulders,” she said before stating that “there has been an attempted coup promoted” by Castillo.
For this reason, he called for “a broad process of dialogue among all the national political forces” and requested a political truce in order to combat corruption.
A failed attempt that ended a few hours later with the now ex-president arrested and expelled from power for “permanent moral incapacity”.
When Castillo announced, at Peruvian noon this Wednesday, that he would govern by decree, Boluarte expressed his rejection of the “break in the constitutional order with the closure of Congress.
“This is a coup that aggravates the political and institutional crisis that Peruvian society will have to overcome with strict adherence to the law,” he emphasized.
The now president was also Minister of Development and Social Inclusion until last week, but left office at the end of November, after the last cabinet change made by Castillo.
Born on May 31, 1962 in Chalhuanca, in the Peruvian region of ApurÃmac, the first president of Peru in 200 years of republican history is a lawyer and fully entered politics in July 2021, when Castillo won the second round of elections. presidential.
Denounced
But the truth is that for the new interim president the last few weeks were not serene either.
In the midst of a political crisis in Peru, while Congress was preparing the session to debate the dismissal of Castillo, Boluarte faced accusations against him: until this Monday he was latent a process to suspend her from holding public office for having continued as president of a private club when she was a minister.
Finally, this Monday the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations (SAC) of Parliament debated, voted and dismissed that complaint.
The SAC in fact archived two complaints that requested that the then vice president be disqualified from office for an alleged violation of the Constitution and an accusation before the Prosecutor’s Office for crimes of incompatible negotiation, taking advantage of the position and abuse of authority.
The decision was made with 13 votes in favor and 8 against the members of the Subcommittee, after the presentation of a report prepared by the pro-government legislator Edgar Reymundo, who recommended that the accusations against the vice president, which until last week she was also Minister of Development and Social Inclusion.
Boluarte had already slipped a few months ago that she was willing to assume the presidency if Castillo were removed.
“There is a mandate that the people have given us, to govern for five years and that is the only agenda we have. To work these remaining four years (of the constitutional period) for the most vulnerable, the most needy,” he said on July 22. past, when asked about this possibility in a conference with the foreign press in Peru.
It was after Castillo had overcome two impeachment attempts and while he was under a storm of political and fiscal accusations, including up to five judicial investigations on charges such as corruption, influence peddling and obstruction of justice for the benefit of his inner circle of collaborators. .
Still, Boluarte then appeared to somehow defend Castillo, the former rural teacher who rose to the presidency in July 2021 after a vote-to-vote fight against his right-wing rival, Keiko Fujimori.
According to Boluarte, the then vice president said in July, the voices seeking a presidential removal, an early election or a disqualification against him showed that a sector of the opposition “never” accepted Castillo’s victory in the elections.
“They have never accepted us and they do not continue to accept us. They are looking for a thousand and one ways not only to vacate (remove) the president but now to disqualify the vice president,” he said.
social plans
During her tenure as Vice President and as Minister of Social Development, Baluarte highlighted the efforts the government was making to combat hunger, expanding social programs to a larger portion of the population.
In the middle of this year, he remarked that in 12 months of management, 20,000 people had joined the Pension 65 program, which protects older adults in situations of extreme poverty with an economic subsidy of 250 soles (64 dollars) every 2 months.
Other programs, called Juntos y Contigo, also added 51,000 new households and 3,200 new users in situations of poverty and disability, respectively.
“Last year we have taken out approximately 100 million soles (25.5 million dollars) to be able to attend to hunger, we have distributed tons of food in all regions of Peru, especially to attend to the common pots (collective kitchens), that they already have their own budget law,” Boluarte said in July, in a fiery defense of the Castillo government, whom he has just replaced while the political landscape in Peru darkens even more.
Source: agencies