Peru's president avoids impeachment impeachment

Peru's Congress, controlled by the right-wing opposition, on Tuesday dismissed the impeachment of left-wing president Pedro Castillo.

"The motion" for presidential vacancy has not been admitted, declared the head of Congress, María del Carmen Alva, after the request to impeach Castillo got only 46 votes in the plenary session (52 were needed to approve it), 76 against and four abstentions.

This was the fifth impeachment motion against a Peruvian president in the last four years and recalled the similar requests that led to the fall of leaders Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, in 2018, and Martín Vizcarra, in 2020.

"On behalf of my Government, I am grateful that the Congress vote put Peru before other interests," President Castillo said a few hours later via Twitter.

The president also called for an end to the recurring crises between Congress and the Executive that have marked recent years.

"Brothers, let's end the political crises and work together to achieve a just and united Peru. The people have entrusted us with their hopes. Let us not disappoint them," he concluded.

Prime Minister Mirtha Vásquez had said shortly before, also on Twitter, that the government received the "decision of Congress with the greatest willingness to join forces with the legislature.

"Peru no longer wants to live in crisis, Congress has reacted based on the terrible reality that Peruvians are experiencing, who want stability and solutions to the problems they face" with the pandemic and the economic situation, the analyst said politician Hugo Otero, former advisor to the late president Alan García.