The new president of PeruDina Boluarte, presented her government this Saturday, while in the streets the demands for new elections acquired violent nuances after the removal of former president Pedro Castillo, according to international media reports.
Boluarte, vice president until Castillo’s removal, appointed a former anti-corruption prosecutor and lawyer, Pedro Angulo, as head of the cabinet made up of 19 ministers, including eight women, reports the agency AFP.
The incorporation of ministers with a more technical than political profile, as demanded by Congress, can open space for the truce requested by Boluarte to the different political formations, although, according to the newspaper, the president must face the demand for new elections and the popular protests.
Boularte assumed the presidency after Congress on Wednesday removed Castillo, who had ordered the legislature dissolved and rule by decree; which was ignored by the parliamentarians who immediately dismissed him, recalls the French agency.
The former president was detained by his own escort while he was going to the Mexican embassy to request asylum and was placed in preliminary prison for seven days on Thursday. The prosecution accuses him of rebellion and, if found guilty, he would face between 10 and 20 years in prison, the news report notes.
Peru’s new president continues negotiations while Castillo seeks asylum in Mexico
In the interior of Peru, the protests took a violent turn with 20 injured in clashes between thousands of demonstrators and police in the southern Andahuaylas city.
Protesters used slingshots and stones to attack the city prosecutor’s office, while police repelled the attack with tear gas. Two police officers who were held hostage for hours were later released, according to the Ombudsman’s Office, quoted by the AFP.
In Arequipa, some 1,000 km south of Lima, groups of informal miners were marching towards the Peruvian capital. Meanwhile, in Lima hundreds of people marched through the historic center of the capital towards Congress called by leftist groups.
The demonstrators demand the release of Castillo, whom they consider kidnapped and betrayed by Congress and by Boularte.
In the rest of the country, the roadblocks continued for the third day in the southern areas where the former president enjoys the greatest support. The protests and blockades caused the police to announce the suspension of vacations and permits for his staff until “further order,” the outlet reports.
Meanwhile, the prosecution has continued to question Castillo’s former ministers for the alleged crime of rebellion and the former chief of staff, Aníbal Vásquez, announced his “going underground.”
According to the AFPat the police base where the former president is detained, dozens of his supporters held a vigil in solidarity and demanded his release.
The agency points out that the decision announced by Boularte to govern until the end of Castillo’s term, on July 28, 2026, is also the focus of criticism and challenges from both political sectors and the population.
Given this scenario, the president has not ruled out calling early elections in search of a peaceful solution to the political crisis, and has called on Peruvians to calm down.
(With information from AFP)
