Monthly Archives: November 2020

Were it not for his parliamentary immunity, Edgar Alarcón might already be in custody awaiting trial. But instead he was able to lead his lawmaker colleagues in ousting the country's popular, corruption-busting president. The controversial impeachment vote has led to riots on the streets of Lima, and the Andean country is now on its third president in a week. The youth-led protest movement that has emerged from the turmoil claims that politicians like Mr Alarcón moved to dislodge the president to protect themselves from his proposed anti-graft laws. Mr Alarcón, the head of…Read more …

By Simeon Tegel LIMA, Peru — The whereabouts of Peru’s most recent president were a mystery Tuesday as prosecutors probed the violent repression of protests while the South American nation rushed to name its third head of state in just over a week. Manuel Merino was appointed interim president on November 10 following congress’s shock dismissal of Martín Vizcarra, the popular corruption-busting leader, the day before. But Merino resigned equally abruptly on Sunday amid a wave of national fury and international rejection of what many saw as an unconstitutional power grab by a corrupt political class…Read more …

By Simeon Tegel LIMA, Peru — Facing furious nationwide protests and growing international pressure, interim President Manuel Merino resigned on Sunday, less than a week after he was inaugurated to replace ousted popular president Martín Vizcarra. The resignation set Peruvians up for their fifth president in five years, as the South American nation faced its worst constitutional crisis since the fall of Alberto Fujimori’s tainted presidency two decades ago. For millions of Peruvians, particularly the young, Merino had become the face of a corrupt political class that has entrenched itself in Congress and sought to…Read more …

By Simeon Tegel LIMA, Peru — How does a democracy of 32 million people allow a rabble-rousing, former rebel leader to orchestrate, from his prison cell, the impeachment of a popular corruption-busting president? That’s the question many Peruvians are asking themselves after the shock ousting of Martín Vizcarra this week by a scandal-wracked congress most citizens have long viewed, with a handful of exceptions, as a cesspit of criminal venality. Vizcarra was fired for “moral incapacity” in a 105-19 vote, a vague term supposedly based on unproven accusations that he accepted bribes. More than…Read more …

By Simeon Tegel and Anthony Faiola LIMA, Peru — The little-known head of Peru's Congress took the helm of the South American nation Tuesday amid a public outcry over the surprise removal of the country's popular president, Martín Vizcarra. Vizcarra’s ouster late Monday and the inauguration of interim president Manuel Merino amounted to a return of the political chaos that has long plagued Peru, where nearly every president since 1990 has resigned, been indicted or been jailed amid clouds of corruption. One former president killed himself. Peru’s president faces impeachment vote amid lethal coronavirus outbreak Yet…Read more …