Comment on Peru president’s power grab recalls country’s dark past

Peru president’s power grab recalls country’s dark past

By FRANKLIN BRICEÑO and JOSHUA GOODMAN LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s ousted President Pedro Castillo rose to power 17 months ago as a populist outsider. But he squandered what little popularity he had when he stunned the nation by dissolving Congress in an act of political suicide that recalled some of the darkest days of the nation’s anti-democratic past. At a court appearance Thursday, a judge ordered Castillo held on charges of rebellion in the same Lima prison where Alberto Fujimori remains incarcerated 30 years after the former strongman sent tanks and soldiers in a far more forceful attempt to close the legislature. Castillo, 53, looked downcast as he gave simple “yes” or “no” answers to the judge’s questions. Most Peruvians took the ouster in stride, with the streets in downtown Lima calm as residents went about their business.

 

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