The peruvian congress elected this monday, 16th of november, Francisco Sagasti as the new interim ruler for the country, after the performance of its successor, Manuel Meríno, was only for five days. Meanwhile, there are massive streets protests against corruption and lack of organization by the government. Until now, the protests have been strongly contained and caused the death of two young peruvians.
This institucional crisis started by 2018, with the impeachment process of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, nationally known as PPK, and the new ruler Martín Viszcarra assumed his position. Recently, Martín Viszcarra was accused of corruption and was forced to leave his position, which installed a national caos and allowed two more government rulers in the history of the country.
Check the timeline below to understand a little bit better the current peruvian situation.
- Pedro Pablo Kuczynski: 2016-2018
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The origin of the crises. PPK, as known Pedro Pablo Kuczynski was a very popular politician in 2016, but almost lost the elections for Keiko Fujimori, which is under arrested for involvement in corruption. After, PPK’s involvement in the scandal of Odebrecht contractor – discovered by the brazilian police – debilitated his position in the government. He was forced to resign, in order to escape the impeachment.
- Martín Vizcarra: 2018 – 2020
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As mentioned previously, Martín Vizcarra was the successor of PPK. He was accused of receiving bribes in 2013 and 2014 from contractors of the Moquegua Regional Government, when he was governor of that region. Vizcarra denies all charges. The peruvian parliament decided to withdraw him for “permanent moral incapacity”.
The exit of Vizcarra was not calmly received by the population. Despite his accusations of corruption, Vizcarra had a good popularity, unlike the parliament, whom the people see as partial and full of second intentions. That’s why caos was installed and several massive protests started.
- Manuel Merino: November 10, 2020 – November 15, 2020
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Merino started his position as interim president in a difficult situation: he was assuming a place, but the population wanted his predecessor to remain. Therefore, during the 5 days he occupied this position the political crisis worsened in the country, because two protesters died and dozens were injured. These were victims of the police repression of protests in Lima against the government.
Manuel Merino announced his resignation shortly after the Congress gave him an ultimatum. If he did not step down, in six hours they would remove him. Sunday, 15 of November, Peru’s executive and legislative positions had no one in charge.
- Francisco Sagasti: Current
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That’s when Francisco Sagasti comes in. The congressmen won the election of the Parliament’s Board on Monday, 16th of november, and will assume the presidency of the country. Sagasti was elected by a large majority in Parliament, and, as a positive sight, he voted to maintain Vizcarra in the position, which might be a positive thing for the population.
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The article above was edited by Laura Ferrazzano.
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