On the evening of October 10, the Peruvian Congress impeached President Dina Boluarte. The concert shooting and growing frustration with the presidentʼs failure to curb the spread of crime prompted parties to withdraw their support for her.
The New York Times writes about the details.
Congress approved four articles of impeachment with bipartisan support. Lawmakers voted unanimously to remove Boluarte, 122 votes in favour. They cited a constitutional provision that allows the presidency to be declared vacant on the grounds of “permanent moral incapacity”.
Dina Boluarte / Facebook
Both lawmakers and protesters outside the building erupted in applause. If lawmakers fail to elect a new leader from among their own ranks, Congress Speaker José Geri will serve as acting president until the April 12 general election.
The ouster of socialist Libertad Peru leader Boluarte marks a sharp reversal by right-wing and centrist parties. Although Boluarte was from the Socialist Party, they had worked in coalition with her for the past three years. The move comes amid widespread outrage over rising crime.
Peru has seen a surge in extortion and contract killings by gangs, according to local police. The number of extortion cases has skyrocketed from a few hundred in all of 2017 to more than 2 000 in one month in 2025.
Dozens of bus drivers have been killed and robbed on the job in the past two years. There have been explosive attacks on concerts, as well as shops and various small businesses.
The president’s measures, including repeated declarations of a state of emergency, have failed to curb the violence. Some experts say several laws she supported to protect political allies have undermined the prosecution of organized crime.
For example, on the evening of October 8, men on motorcycles opened machine gun fire on a popular cumbia band performing in Lima, injuring four members.
Dina Boluarte became president after her predecessor Pedro Castillo under whom she was vice president, was impeached and arrested in 2022 for attempting to seize control of Congress and the judiciary.
Her decision to replace him rather than resign as she had promised sparked violent protests in which 49 civilians were killed by police and military forces. Boluarte has relied on a coalition of right-wing and centrist parties to stay in power, surviving seven attempts to impeach her by left-wing lawmakers. She is now under investigation by national human rights prosecutors.
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