Congress' decision to impeach President without proofs agitates people in Peru

Peru’s Congress enacted on Monday to push President Martín Vizcarra in an impeachment trial over corruption accusations, intimidating further agitation in a country grappling to recover from the coronavirus.

In a process that lasted eight hours, some 105 members of the opposition-dominated Congress decided to eliminate the centrist leader over allegations that as a governor he received bribes from businesses that gained public works deals, in their second effort to boot Vizcarra out in as many periods.

Legislators required to achieve 87 ballots out of 130 to push him out of office. There were 19 votes against and four abstentions.

“The decision announcing the opening of the presidency of the republic has been established,” stated Congress leader Manuel Marino, who under the law will triumph over the presidential functions until July 2021, which would result at the end of Vizcarra’s term.

Vizcarra has refused the corruption accusations as “baseless” and “inaccurate” but in a speech outside the presidential palace after the vote announced he would not dispute the verdict. He repeated that he had done nothing illegal and was prepared to answer to any unlawful charges made against him.

The removal of a president with broad public support thanks to his anti-corruption initiative brings repeated administrative confusion to the Andean country as it tries to grow from an economic collapse brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Nearly 35,000 people in Peru have lost their lives due to COVID-19, the world’s biggest per-capita death-rate.

The next presidential and parliamentary elections of Brazil are due in April 2021

“We comprehend here in Lima and in the north, people already showing their hatred about this vote,” stated journalists reporting from the capital. “Many specialists are stating this is a move d’etat by representatives without any evidence whatsoever of Vizcarra’s guilt.”

Pot-banging demonstrators took to the road throughout the Congress building in the direct aftermath of Monday night’s vote, and police collided with pro-Vizcarra protestors a few blocks from the Congress building. Some holding signs denouncing the Congress of a “coup”.