While Congress reached for “moral incapacity” to remove Dina Boluarte, the more important storyline is what has been building outside the chamber: sustained, organized demonstrations that now shape the tempo of power in Lima.
In recent weeks, marchers returned to Plaza San Martín and beyond, rallying against insecurity, corruption, and a political class that cycles presidents without fixing the state.
On 4 October, thousands marched in Lima to demand Boluarte’s resignation. Days later, a shooting at a concert fueled anger over the government’s failure to guarantee basic security. Within hours, Congress invoked “moral incapacity” to justify removing her, arguing that the state had become ungovernable, and José Jerí was sworn in. The protests set the stage, the shooting accelerated the fall.
This reveals that since 2016, Peru has been trapped in a cycle of fragile presidencies, undermined by corruption, the absence of a parliamentary majority, and the political use of impeachments.
The streets did not “cause” the ouster, but they set the context in which “order” politics and rapid-fire removals thrive.
Protests are now a real, if informal, power. If institutions keep swapping presidents without reforms on policing, prosecutors, and emergency powers, the street will keep showing up.
For democratic allies, the priority is tangible guarantees around protest rights and accountability paired with security reforms that reach beyond Lima.
Otherwise, Peru will keep rewriting the cast, not the script.
