“We have done badly with so much political instability”

A police cordon in front of the Prefecture where Pedro Castillo is detained. Aldair Mejía (EFE)

A self-employed sales worker talks with a family member outside a supermarket in the Jesús María district, a residential neighborhood in Lima: “How is life, right?

In the morning, President, and in the afternoon, in the jail of the Prefecture”.

Jorge, 55 years old, disqualified the dissolution of Congress and the declaration of an emergency government that Pedro Castillo had adopted in the morning.

He was relieved that Vice President Dina Boluarte took over as replacement for the head of state dismissed by Parliament.

“I didn't think [Castillo] was going to hit.

Now with the president the guidelines of the Constitution are being followed.

I would prefer that there be elections and we start again from scratch, but it is difficult because she does not have a seat in Parliament, ”he adds.

For Arturo, a 44-year-old systems engineer, the rural teacher acted undemocratically by closing the Legislative.

His expectation, he relates, is that the policy ends its term in July 2026. "We have been doing badly with so much political instability in recent years," he says.

Since Pedro Pablo Kuczynski took office in 2016, there have been six rulers in Peru in six years and one of them, Manuel Merino, only lasted five days in office.

"Every time there has been a change of president or Congress or early elections due to vacancies or other measures, it is not good for us as a country: there is a lot of instability," adds Arturo while waiting at a bus stop.

Around half past three in the afternoon, when Boluarte was giving her first words in Congress at her swearing-in ceremony as president, a taxi driver in downtown Lima turned on her radio.

He heard the voice of the new president and changed the station to search for music.

“The news is sick.

With everything [the politicians] do, we workers are the most affected, ”he launched bitterly.

200 meters from the taxi driver, two groups of police agents surrounded España avenue because some 150 people were crowding in front of the Prefecture -including some far-right shock groups, such as Los Combatientes and Arica does not surrender- to celebrate the Castle fall.

"And it has fallen, and it has fallen, the delinquent has already fallen", they sang waving the Peruvian red and white flag, among them, Jorge del Castillo, a former prime minister of the second Government of Alan García and one of the daughters of said former president, who committed suicide in April 2019 when he was going to be arrested for his links to the

The group was similar to the one that demonstrated after the presidential runoff in June 2021, demanding that Castillo's vote be annulled and alleging fraud that never existed.

They also marched through the streets of the center of the capital several times in 2021 and during this year to demand the departure of Castillo.

One of the lines of the Metropolitan Transport service, with an exclusive lane in Lima, came to interrupt service in the middle of the afternoon on España avenue, due to the demonstration outside the Prefecture, where the deposed and detained president remains.

Throughout the afternoon, other protest groups in favor of the former union leader approached the same area.

They did it with signs and banners in favor of the deposed politician and against the Congress that he intended to dissolve.

Towards the end of the afternoon, Rosa, a 38-year-old office worker, was already aware of the three events of the day: the self-coup, the impeachment, and the presidential succession.

“What Castillo did was unexpected, although we all wanted them to leave, Congress and the president.

Now I hope they both leave, ”she noted.

The Parliament borders on 87% of disapproval in the polls in recent months, above the negative opinion on the Executive.

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