She accepted her removal in a pre-recorded national address cut off mid-broadcast.

On Friday, Dina Boluarte accepted her removal as president of Peru in a pre-recorded address that was cut off by all television channels broadcasting it.

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Earlier in the day, with 122 votes in favor out of 130 lawmakers, the Peruvian Congress approved her immediate dismissal, declaring her to have a “permanent moral incapacity” to confront the surge in nationwide crime.

In the pre-recorded message, Boluarte appeared in one of the presidential palace’s halls, flanked by her ministers, in an address where she no longer wore the presidential sash — one of the emblems reserved for the head of state.

Boluarte began her message by accepting her removal and then started listing several achievements and figures from her administration. At that moment, the broadcast was taken off the air. Minutes later, she left the government headquarters for an unknown destination.

Her current whereabouts remain unclear, as she did not return to her home in Lima’s Surquillo district. No one was waiting for her outside, underscoring that Boluarte had become Latin America’s most unpopular leader, with an approval rating of barely 3%.

Before her ousting, rumors circulated that Boluarte had allegedly explored the possibility of seeking asylum in the embassies of Argentina, Brazil or Ecuador.

Attention focused mainly on the Ecuadorian Embassy, as Peru’s foreign minister was in Quito on Thursday for a new session of the Binational Neighborhood Commission.

Juan Carlos Portugal, the ousted president’s lawyer, dismissed the possibility that Boluarte would seek asylum or flee Peru. However, dozens of people gathered outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in Lima to protest against Boluarte and to prevent her from obtaining asylum.

Boluarte currently faces at least eleven investigations by the Attorney General’s Office for serious human rights violations and corruption.

Among the accusations are the deaths of more than 50 people during the crackdown on protests demanding new elections after the arrest of President Pedro Castillo — whom Boluarte succeeded as vice president after his failed coup attempt in late 2022.

Boluarte is also under investigation for receiving undeclared luxury gifts, such as Rolex watches; for failing to disclose that she was physically unfit to hold office while undergoing a series of cosmetic surgeries; and for allegedly covering up the escape of the leader of the Peru Libre party, with which she and Castillo won the 2021 elections. Interim Attorney General Tomas Galvez will ask a judge to prohibit Boluarte from leaving the country.

The same right-wing parties that had supported Boluarte since she took office turned against her, removing her through an expedited vote — a record decision in recent history for such motions.

Most of the leaders of those parties have presidential ambitions, including Keiko Fujimori — daughter and political heir of former dictator Alberto Fujimori (1990–2000) — and Lima’s ultraconservative mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, head of the Popular Renewal party.

On Friday, Congress President Jose Jeri of the right-wing “We Are Peru” party assumed the presidency of the republic until new elections scheduled for 2026. Jeri becomes Peru’s seventh president since 2016, in a succession of leaders toppled by political turmoil.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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