(Lima) Peru’s parliament on Tuesday rejected the debating of a motion for impeachment for “moral incapacity” against President Dina Boluarte for the crackdown on recent anti-government protests that left around 50 people dead.
Only 37 deputies voted in favor, while a minimum of 50 votes was required.
The initiative was carried by left-wing deputies linked to former President Pedro Castillo, deposed for “moral incapacity” and imprisoned in December, accused of having attempted a coup d’etat by wanting to dissolve the Parliament which was preparing to oust him from power.
On Twitter, the Peruvian president welcomed the decision of the Parliament, welcoming that “in circumstances where it is necessary to maintain the unity and stability of the country, respect for the constitutional order and democracy prevails”.
The fall of Mr. Castillo and his replacement by Mrs. Boluarte, his former vice-president, sparked a wave of violent and harshly suppressed protests across the country.
On January 10, the Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation against Ms. Boluarte and several ministers and former ministers of her government, for alleged offenses of “genocide, aggravated homicide and serious injury” during law enforcement operations.
Amnesty International, in a mid-February report, accused the Peruvian government of “committing serious human rights violations in the course of its violent repression of protests”. According to the NGO, the authorities also acted “with a marked racist bias, targeting historically discriminated populations”.
The Peruvian government has categorically denied these accusations.
Impeachment motions for “moral incapacity” brought by the unicameral Peruvian Parliament are recurrent. Pedro Castillo (left) in 2022, but also Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (right) in 2018 and Martin Vizcarra (center) in 2020 had been targeted by these procedures.
