The ousted president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, was arrested this Wednesday and is at the headquarters of the Lima Police prefecture, shortly after being ousted by Congress and being mostly accused of having attempted to carry out a coup d’état.
"In compliance with our faculties and attributions described in article 5 of DL (legislative decree) No. 1267 Law of the National Police of Peru (PNP), PNP troops intervene with former president Pedro Castillo"wrote the official account of that body on his Twitter account.
For about half an hour the whereabouts of Castillo were unknown, who early in the morning ordered the closure of Congress and the appointment of an emergency government, a measure that was crossed out by the opposition and several members of his government, including Vice President Dina Boluarte, as a coup.
"We reject the breach of the constitutional order and urge the population to respect the Political Constitution and remain calm. Also, relying on state institutions"wrote the Police minutes before confirming the arrest of Castillo.
Castillo dictated this Wednesday to temporarily dissolve Congress and establish a national emergency government, hours before Parliament debated a vacancy motion (removal) to remove him from the head of state.
"The following measures are issued: Temporarily dissolve the Congress of the Republic and establish an exceptional emergency government"Castillo said in a message to the nation that was not previously announced by his communications team or on his social networks.
With an obvious tremor in his hands, he announced that he is also dictating "convene in the shortest term elections for a new Congress with constituent powers to draft a new Constitution within a period not exceeding 9 months".
He also ordered a nationwide curfew starting today from 10:00 p.m. local time (3:00 GMT on Thursday) and that "the reorganization of the judicial system, the Judiciary, the Public Ministry, the National Board of Justice (JNJ) and the Constitutional Court (TC) is declared"he added.