The Armed Forces of Peru, through the Joint Command, rejected in a statement “any act contrary to the established constitutional order,” referring to the coup d’état staged about two hours earlier by the current leftist president Pedro Castillo, by “dissolving Congress” and installing “a government of exception” in the country, in addition to decreeing a curfew throughout the country.
Peruvian congressmen acted swiftly in the face of Pedro Castillo’s announcement in Peru, who dissolved Congress on Wednesday, 7, and removed the leader from power by 101 votes to six, with 11 abstentions, for ‘moral incapacity’ following an attempted coup d’état by announcing the dismissal of the legislature and the formation of an “exceptional emergency government” in the country.
This after Pedro Castillo announced a coup by dissolving the Legislative Branch hours before his third vacancy motion for moral incapacity was debated.
“The Armed Forces and the National Police of Peru respect the established constitutional order; Article 134 of the Political Constitution establishes that the President of the Republic has the power to dissolve Congress if it has censured or denied its confidence in two Councils of Ministers”, they indicated in a statement published in the afternoon of Dec. 7.
“Any act contrary to the established constitutional order constitutes a violation of the Constitution and generates non-compliance by the Armed Forces and the National Police,” they add.
Finally, they appeal to citizens for calm “and confidence in the legally constituted State institutions.”
Castillo was detained while trying to take refuge in the Mexican embassy in Lima, Peru’s capital.