Peru’s Congress removes President Boluarte as a crime wave grips the
country
[October 10, 2025]
By FRANKLIN BRICEÑO
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s Congress voted early Friday to remove deeply
unpopular President Dina Boluarte from office as a crime wave grips the
South American nation and quickly replaced her with 38-year-old lawyer
José Jerí, the legislative body's leader.
Lawmakers had set up a debate and impeachment trial late Thursday in the
130-member unicameral Congress after voting to accept four requests for
a vote to remove Boluarte from office over what they said was her
government's inability to stem crime.
They requested that Boluarte come before them shortly before midnight to
defend herself, but when she did not appear they immediately voted to
oust her. In short order, 124 lawmakers voted just past midnight to
impeach Boluarte. There were no votes against the effort.
The shocking turn of events came just hours after a shooting at a
concert in the capital inflamed anger over crime roiling the country.
Unlike eight previous attempts to remove Boluarte, almost all
legislative factions expressed support for the latest requests.
Boluarte, Peru’s first female president, took office in December 2022
after Parliament used the same mechanism to impeach her predecessor.
After Friday's vote, Boluarte spoke on national television, recounting
her administration’s achievements.
“I have not thought of myself, but rather of Peruvians,” she said.
Minutes into her speech, the broadcast was interrupted to show Jerí’s
swearing in.
Jerí, the president of the Congress, was sworn in early Friday as the
interim president to serve out Boluarte's term. Elections are scheduled
for next April and Boluarte's term was to end July 28, 2026.
Jerí said he would defend Peru's sovereignty and hand over power to the
winner of the April election.
Boluarte was Peru's sixth leader in just under a decade. A normal
presidential term is five years.
She assumed power in Peru in 2022 to complete the term of then-President
Pedro Castillo, who was removed from office just two years into his
five-year term after attempting to dissolve the legislature to avoid his
own removal. She had served as Castillo’s vice president before becoming
president.
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Opponents of Peruvian President Dina Boluarte protest outside of the
Ecuadorian Embassy in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP
Photo/Martin Mejia)
There were more than 500 protests demanding her resignation in the
first three months of her presidency.
Plagued by scandals, her administration’s inability to address
Peru’s incessant crime proved to be her undoing.
On Wednesday, she partially blamed the situation on immigrants
living in the country illegally.
“This crime has been brewing for decades and has been strengthened
by illegal immigration, which past administrations haven’t
defeated," she said during a military ceremony. “Instead, they’ve
opened the doors of our borders and allowed criminals to enter
everywhere... without any restrictions.”
Official figures show that 6,041 people were killed between January
and mid-August, the highest number during the same period since
2017. Meanwhile, extortion complaints totaled 15,989 between January
and July, a 28% increase compared to the same period in 2024.
The country’s latest presidential crisis erupted after a man opened
fire and injured five people Wednesday during a concert of Peru’s
most popular cumbia groups, Agua Marina.
Prime Minister Eduardo Arana on Thursday defended Boluarte during a
crime-focused hearing before Parliament, but it was not enough to
dissuade lawmakers from pursuing the motions to see the president
out of office.
“Parliament’s concerns are not resolved by addressing a request for
impeachment, much less by approving it,” Arana told lawmakers. “We
are not clinging to our positions. We are here, and we knew from the
beginning that our first day here could also be our last day in
office.”
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