Peruvian President Pedro Castillo had to return to the country from a trip to Ecuador to avoid impeachment by Congress after bad weather prevented him from traveling by plane.
In a country where presidents are frequently impeached, Castillo risked violating the constitution if he did not return to Peru before midnight Friday (2 a.m. Brasília time).
1 of 1 President of Peru Pedro Castillo, dressed in typical Andean attire, speaks in Juliaca, in the Puno region (Photo: Carlos Mamani/AFP)
Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, dressed in typical Andean attire, speaks in Juliaca, in the Puno region (Photo: Carlos Mamani/AFP)
Parliament’s permission for the leftwing president to visit his neighbor in Ecuador, where he headed a binational cabinet with his counterpart Guillermo Lasso in the town of Loja, 264 kilometers by road from the Peruvian border, was about to expire.
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Exceeding the deadline would have given opponents who control the legislature an excuse to proceed with the sacking of Castillo, since Peru’s Magna Carta does not provide for exceptions for meteorological reasons.
Since the presidential plane could not take off due to bad weather, Castillo had to take a fivehour drive to reach the Peruvian border in time.
According to local media, Castillo arrived at the Tumbes border post an hour before the deadline, freeing him from a new request for a “presidential vacancy” (dismissal), the third in his nine months in power.
Peruvian President Pedro Castillo escapes impeachment for the second time
The “vacancy” requests have become commonplace in Peru, leading to the ouster of Presidents Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (right) in 2018 and Martín Vízcarra (center) in 2020, adding to instability in the country.
Since December 2017, Peruvian lawmakers have submitted six job postings to Congress, two of them against Castillo.