(CNN Spanish) – Dina Boluarte took office as the new president of Peru, after this Wednesday Congress dismissed Pedro Castillo with the approval of a vacancy motion.
In this convulsive context, Boluarte, who until a few hours ago was the vice president of the country, took over from Castillo after swear in before the plenary of Congress in a session called for this Wednesday afternoon.
The first woman president of Peru was sworn in this Wednesday after the arrest of Pedro Castillo.
Boluarte will serve his term until July 2026. It is the sixth time that Peru has had a new president in less than five years.
In his first speech, Boluarte called for a “political truce to install a government of national unity” and said that he will fight corruption with the support of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Comptroller’s Office.
“My first measure is to confront corruption, in all its dimensions,” Boluarte said. “I have seen with revulsion how the press and judicial bodies have denounced shameful acts of robbery against the money of all Peruvians, this cancer must be removed.”
Boluarte comes to power after Castillo was dismissed and arrested for declaring the temporary closure of Congress unconstitutional, according to the consensus of constitutional analysts in that country. Part of his cabinet and other senior officials resigned and denounced that the president has perpetrated a coup.
Who is Dina Boluarte?
Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra (Chalhuanca, Apurímac, 60 years old) is a lawyer graduated from the San Martín de Porres Private University, where she also completed a Master’s degree in Notarial and Registry Law, according to her resume published in the Single State Platform.
She began her political career in 2007, in the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (Reniec) in Surco, as an advisor to senior management and, later, as the head in charge. In 2018 she was a candidate for mayor of Surquillo for the Peru Libre Party. Two years later, in 2020, she participated in the extraordinary parliamentary elections, but did not win the seat.
During the 2021 general elections, she was a candidate for vice presidency for the Peru Libre party, in the formula headed by Castillo and which emerged victorious in the second round by obtaining 8,836,380 of the votes, according to the National Election Jury (JNE).
In the midst of the crossroads that Peruvians were experiencing in the face of the second round —when, as the writer Santiago Rocangoglio expressed it in an interview with CNN, they were debating between an extreme left (represented by Castillo) and an extreme right (represented by Keiko Fujimori)—, Boluarte made some statements in which he indicated that he would close Congress if the Legislature does not coordinate “in favor of the Homeland with the Executive”.
In an interview with CNN’s Fernando del Rincón in 2021, Boluarte retracted and said: “What I said is that we need a Congress that works for the needs of Peruvian society and that positively coordinates with the Executive so that both branches of the State They can work together.” in a coordinated manner to meet the multiple needs of Peruvian society. We do not want an obstructionist Congress (…) At no time have I said that we are going to close Congress”.
Dina Boluarte. Stock image. (Credit: LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
On July 29, 2021, she assumed as Minister of Development and Social Inclusion, a position she held until November 25, 2022, when I quit after the appointment of Betssy Chávez as president of the Council of Ministers.
“Today I have made the decision not to continue in the next ministerial cabinet. After deep reflection, I have no doubts that the current polarization harms everyone, especially the ordinary citizen who seeks to get out of the political and economic crisis,” wrote Boluarte, who did not leave the vice presidency at the time.
With information from Fernando del Rincón