Peru is currently going through a political crisis. Because of that, Dina Boluarte, the former vice-president of Peru, was sworn in as president on Wednesday (December 7). She became the first woman president of the South American country after now-former President Pedro Castillo was impeached and arrested for attempting to dissolve Congress.
Boluarte called Castillo’s act an “attempted coup” and condemned the move. “I reject the decision of Pedro Castillo to perpetrate the breakdown of the constitutional order with the closure of Congress,” Boluarte tweeted. “It is a coup that aggravates the political and institutional crisis that Peruvian society will have to overcome with strict adherence to the law.”
Born Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra, the 60-year-old president previously served at the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (Registro Nacional de Identificación y Estado Civil) from 2007 to 2022. RENIEC maintains the records of births, deaths, marriages, and divorces in Peru.
Boluarte graduated with a law degree from the University of San Martín de Porres. Last year, she was appointed minister of development and social inclusion. Her political career kicked off in 2018 when she ran to become the mayor of the town of Surquillo. Boluarte also ran to become a congresswoman in Lima in 2020. She failed in both attempts.
In her first remarks as president, Boluarte pledged that “all bloods” would form her political cabinet. “I request a political truce to install a government of national unity,” she said. “I ask for time, valuable time to rescue the country from corruption and misrule.”
Boluarte will serve as president through July 2026.
