(Lima) The Peruvian Congress on Tuesday voted to advance the general elections from 2026 to April 2024, in an attempt to stem the crisis and end the protests sparked by the dismissal of ex-president Pedro Castillo.
In plenary session, the proposal, which required 87 votes in favor, received 93. There were 30 votes against and one abstention.
The ballot also establishes that the current president, Dina Boluarte, will give way in July 2024 to the winner of the presidential election.
The President of Congress, José Williams, however explained at the end of the session that the reform, for it to come into force, must still be validated by a new vote in the coming months.
According to polls, 83% of citizens are in favor of early elections to end the crisis, triggered by the dismissal on December 7 of left-wing president Pedro Castillo. The latter had tried to shut down Congress, intervene in the judicial system, rule by decree and demand a Constituent Assembly.
Protests have since broken out and, according to the latest report from the ombudsman’s office, 21 people have been killed and more than 650 injured in clashes between protesters and security forces.
Pedro Castillo had been arrested for rebellion on his way to the Mexican Embassy, where he wanted to seek asylum, which generated a diplomatic crisis between Lima and Mexico City.
The Peruvian government on Tuesday granted a safe conduct to the family of the ousted president so that they can leave the country, in application of international conventions.
Diplomatic crisis with Mexico
Mr. Castillo’s wife and minor children have been at the Mexican Embassy in Lima since Tuesday morning and have been granted asylum there, as Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard had previously confirmed.
The Peruvian government, which perceived Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador’s support for Pedro Castillo as “interference”, on Tuesday declared persona non grata the Mexican ambassador to Lima, Pablo Monroy, and gave him “72 hours to leave » the Andean country.
The Peruvian Foreign Minister, Ana Cecilia Gervasi, also recalled that Mr. Castillo’s wife, Lilia Paredes, was the subject of an investigation by the Peruvian public prosecutor, who suspected her of being a possible coordinator in a criminal organization her husband allegedly ran.
She specified that the Peruvian government would reserve the right to request his extradition if local justice required it.
President Boluarte, in office for thirteen days, announced that she was going to reshuffle her government and change the prime minister in particular, in order to put in place more experienced political figures to find solutions to the crisis.
The Ministry of Transport said that operations resumed on Tuesday at the Inca Manco Capac airport in Juliaca, in the Puno region (south), after six days of closure due to protests.
Visits to the famous Machu Picchu have been suspended since December 14 in order to preserve the safety of tourists.
Demonstrations were still being held on Tuesday in the south of the country. In Cusco (southeast), hundreds of people, mostly women dressed in traditional outfits, marched before burning a cardboard coffin with the effigy of Dina Boluarte.