Peru's president impeached, arrested
Congress votes to impeach Pedro Castillo after he dissolved the legislature hours earlier
Peru's President Pedro Castillo was removed from office on Wednesday and then arrested.
The Congress of the South American country voted to impeach Castillo after he dissolved the legislature hours earlier. Authorities then detained the president on the streets of downtown Lima, the capital of Peru, according to local media reports.
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Castillo was impeached for "moral incapacity" in a session broadcast live on television. The vote to impeach him was approved by 101 of a total of 130 lawmakers, with abstentions and votes against.
“The following measures are dictated: temporarily dissolve the Congress of the Republic and establish an exceptional emergency government; convene in the shortest time possible a new Congress with constituent powers to draw up a new Constitution in a period of no more than nine months,” Castillo broadcasted earlier in the day in a televised address to the nation.
The impeachment put an end to the 53-year-old leftist leader's rocky 17 months in power. The former school teacher and union leader was sworn in as Peru's president on July 28, 2021.
Lawmakers tried two previous times unsuccessfully to impeach him. Castillo faced six criminal investigations and rotated five cabinets during his tenure.
In the earlier address, Castillo ordered a nighttime curfew and a rejiggering of the judiciary and prosecutor’s office, which prompted mass resignations and accusations by opposition lawmakers that he was orchestrating an illegal coup attempt.
Castillo is accused of corruption and influence-pedaling. He denies the charges.