LIMA, Peru (AP) – Peru’s Congress voted early Friday to remove highly unpopular President Dina Bolarte from office as a crime wave grips the South American country.
Lawmakers began debate and the impeachment trial late Thursday in the 130-member unicameral chamber after voting to accept four demands for Bolarte’s removal from office, citing his government’s inability to curb crime.
They asked Bolarte to come before them and defend herself shortly before midnight, but when she failed to appear, they immediately voted to expel her. In the blink of an eye, just after midnight, 124 senators voted to impeach Mr. Bolarte. There were no votes against this initiative.
The shocking turn of events came just hours after a mass shooting at a concert in the capital sparked outrage over the crime that has roiled the country.
Unlike the previous eight attempts to remove her from office, nearly all legislative factions expressed support for this demand.
Bolarte took office in December 2022 after Congress used the same mechanism to impeach his predecessor.
Congress leader José Gerry, 38, was sworn in early Friday morning as interim president until elections next April.
Peru’s first female president is Peru’s sixth leader in less than a decade. The normal presidential term is five years. Her term was scheduled to end on July 28, 2026.
Mr. Bolarte took power in 2022 toward the end of then-President Pedro Castillo’s term, but the president tried to dissolve Congress to avoid being removed from office, and he was removed from office just two years into his five-year term. She served as Castillo’s vice president before becoming president.
In her first three months as president, more than 500 protests calling for her resignation took place.
Plagued by scandal, the regime’s failure to address Peru’s persistent crime was her downfall.
She said Wednesday that part of the situation is due to immigrants living in the country illegally.
“This crime has been brewing for decades, reinforced by illegal immigration, and successive governments have not broken it,” he said at a military ceremony. “Instead, they opened the doors to our borders and allowed criminals to enter anywhere without restriction.”
According to official figures, 6,041 people were killed between January and mid-August, the highest in the same period since 2017. Meanwhile, extortion complaints totaled 15,989 from January to July, an increase of 28% compared to the same period in 2024.
The country’s latest presidential crisis erupted on Wednesday after a man opened fire during a concert by Peru’s most popular cumbia group, Agua Marina, injuring five people.
Prime Minister Eduardo Arana defended Bolarte on Thursday during a hearing focused on crimes in parliament, but it was not enough to dissuade lawmakers from pushing a motion calling for the president to step down.
“Congress’s concerns will not be resolved by addressing the impeachment motion, much less by approving the impeachment motion,” Arana told lawmakers. “We’re not clinging to our position. We’re here, but we knew from the beginning that our first day here could be our last day in office.”
