Manuel Merino assumes the presidency of Peru 8:41
(CNN Spanish) -
Manuel Merino de Lama assumed the presidency of Peru on Tuesday after the dismissal of Martín Vizcarra as a result of a vote of no confidence in Congress.
Merino de Lama was until very recently the president of the Congress of Peru.
As of this Tuesday, he will occupy a position that Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018) and Martín Vizcarra (2018-2020) have passed through in the last four years, neither of whom could finish their mandate in the middle of a political crisis. .
Merino de Lama will be in his position until July 2021.
These are some data of the new president of Peru.
Manuel Merino, new president of Peru after the removal of Vizcarra, says that health will be a priority
Congress of Peru approves the vacancy of Martín Vizcarra 4:47
The political career of Manuel Merino de Lama
Manuel Merino de Lama was born in 1961 in Tumbes, a city located in the northwest of Peru.
He belongs to the right-wing Popular Action party, one of the oldest in Peru.
advertising
Merino de Lama is an agronomist by profession and is related to the livestock and agriculture sector, according to the local press.
His link with the Popular Action party dates back to 1979.
He was elected congressman for the first time for the period 2001-2006, when he chaired the Consumer Defense Commission.
In 2011 he again won a seat in Congress, to be re-elected in 2016 in an alliance of parties, and supporting the presidential candidacy of Alan García.
In March 2020 he renewed his mandate again, after Vizcarra called for extraordinary elections.
The president of Peru, Martín Vizcarra, will face a new vacancy request
What Vizcarra said after being dismissed 2:56
From "second line" congressman to president of Peru
Local media such as América Televisión described Merino de Lama as a "second-line" congressman before his arrival in the current legislature.
In March 2020, he was elected a member of Congress with just over 5,000 votes for Popular Action representing the state of Tumbes.
That election had 24.7 million eligible voters and Acción Popular, his party, won 1,518,000 votes, 10% of the general vote, so the party obtained a majority in Congress.
These thousands of votes allowed Merino de Lama to be elected president of Congress earlier this year after defeating Rocío Silva Santiesteban of the Frente Amplio party.
He was the promoter of the two motions of censure against President Martín Vizcarra.
Merino de Lama was the one who led the debate in Congress that ended with the vacancy of President Vizcarra.
The day after he assumed the presidency.
At the inauguration event on Tuesday, Merino de Lama told Congress that the crisis is undeniable in his country, but assured that "in the face of these dilemmas it is necessary to act with responsibility and maturity."
Merino said he will lead a democratic transition and will focus on "correcting all the mistakes."
"Health will be a priority, the relentless fight against corruption and the search for consensus," said the president.
Manuel Merino (LUKA GONZALES / AFP via Getty Images)
Merino de Lama faced a motion of censure
In days of political upheaval in Peru, when the country was going through a crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and accusations against Vizcarra of moral inability to continue in office (which Vizcarra has repeatedly denied), the opposition Frente Amplio party filed a motion of censure against Merino de Lama.
On September 14, the Broad Front party accused the president of Congress of having violated parliamentary procedures in the plenary session on September 10.
According to the document, at the time when audios were presented that involved Vizcarra with "alleged crimes of concealment and obstruction of justice and others," Merino de Lama proceeded to "suspend the Plenary's agenda" and "give undue priority to the audition of the audios from an anonymous source, flagrantly violating the parliamentary procedure for their evaluation in the framework of the investigation, ”reported the state news agency Agencia Andina.
The motion of censure also mentioned "improper" telephone calls by Merino de Lama with high-ranking members of the armed forces to ask him for "reassurance due to the possible outcome of the crisis with the vacancy of President Vizcarra and that he would assume the position in accordance with the regulations in the Political Constitution ", says the document.
According to Frente Amplio, Merino de Lama acted intentionally to "precipitate a political crisis that would end with the eventual presidential vacancy."
Walter Martos, general of the Peruvian Army in retirement, denounced that an attempt was made to involve "the Armed Forces in a political process in which they should not have any participation."
He added that, in this event, which he considered serious, the president of Congress, Manuel Merino de Lama, participated.
Before the plenary session of Congress, Merino rejected the accusations against him.
“They have tried to confuse the population by making them believe that there is a plot that we have tried to ask for support or to compromise the armed forces.
Fact totally false, "he said.
On September 15, the plenary session of Congress refused to admit the motion of censure against Merino de Lama with 10 votes in favor, 93 against and 21 abstentions.
Congress of Peru approves the vacancy of Martín Vizcarra: we give you the details
Merino: The health of our population will be a priority 9:40
He is the third president of the country in four years
Merino de Lama is the third president of Peru since 2016.
The country has faced a political crisis since that year.
Vizcarra took office in March 2018 when President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned from the presidency after 20 months in office.
Kuczynski, convicted of alleged money laundering in the framework of the Odebrecht case, submitted his resignation in the middle of a televised statement in which he said he does not want "neither the country nor his family to continue to suffer with the uncertainty of recent times."
PPK, as he is also known, has denied the accusations against him.
Vizcarra was the first vice president of Kuczynski since he was sworn in as president of Peru on July 28, 2016.
On November 9, Vizcarra was vacated by the Peruvian Congress with 105 votes in favor.
Merino de Lama arrives in the midst of a strong controversy from those who believe that it is a coup.
Several sectors called for demonstrations in the vicinity of the Congress in Lima to reject the measure.
There were some clashes with the Police during the day.
Merino has pledged to respect, with "fairness", Peru's presidential elections scheduled for 2021.
"No one can change the date of the elections, April 11, 2021," said the president of the Peruvian Congress quoted in Agencia Andina.
Manuel Merino