Judge dictates 7 days of preventive detention to former Peruvian president Pedro Castillo

A judge ordered on Thursday seven days of preliminary prison for the ousted former president of Peru Pedro Castillo while the prosecution investigates him for rebellion, while his replacement held meetings in the presidential palace after a dramatic day that shocked the region.

Lawmakers in Peru’s congress voted overwhelmingly to remove Castillo from office on Wednesday, prompting the swift downfall of the unpopular president after his bid to dissolve congress and rule by decree was thwarted earlier that day.

Castillo was arrested shortly after on Wednesday accused of “rebellion and conspiracy,” according to the prosecutor’s office, which adds to other investigations for months for corruption.

The Power of attorney reported on Twitter that a supreme court ordered seven days of “preliminary detention” for Castillo. In a previous hearing, prosecutor Marco Huamán said that the police detained Castillo when he was going to the Mexican embassy in Lima “in order to take refuge and flee the country.”

Huamán stated that the charge of rebellion is considered a sentence of not less than 10 years nor more than 20 years.

From Mexico City, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that Castillo had contacted the Mexican presidential office on Wednesday to advise that he was going to the embassy of that country in Lima to request asylum.

Castillo’s lawyer, Víctor Pérez, rejected the accusation of rebellion at the hearing, arguing that such an act involves the use of weapons and violence, which he said never occurred.

Castillo attended the hearing via teleconference and was asked if he wanted to address the court, but he was silent.

Early elections?

As a climax to the dizzying sequence of events, Dina Boluarte, Castillo’s vice president, was sworn in as the new president of the South American country, becoming the first woman to govern Peru.

Boluarte, 60, could appoint a new cabinet in the coming days to lead the world’s second-largest copper producer, with high expectations that he will opt for a unity government.

In remarks Thursday, the Peruvian president suggested that calling for early elections might be “democratically respectable” but said she wants to hold more talks with the country’s political players first.

Boluarte He also stated that he hopes that the suspended meeting in Lima of the Pacific alliancefor December 14 with the presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Chile, it can be realized.

“Relations with the countries of the region must continue to be the most suitable,” he said. “I hope in any case that President López Obrador, as he had offered to come to Peru, can be fulfilled, we are going to wait for him here with open arms.”

The replacement of presidents in Peru was taken calmly by the markets; and on Thursday the risk rating agency Moody’s said that the Andean country’s main economic and financial institutions remain resistant to political volatility and help mitigate their exposure to possible downside scenarios that could affect their credit quality.

The leftist’s 17-month tenure CastilloThe 53-year-old was marked by an unprecedented turnover of top officials as well as multiple corruption scandals that he dismissed as politically motivated efforts by conservative foes in the opposition-controlled Congress to undermine his rule.

Castillo is being held in a police prison in the capital Lima, where another former president, Alberto Fujimori, is also being held, a judicial source told Reuters early on Thursday.

Almost at noon, the attorney general, Patricia Benavides, went to the police prison to receive Castillo’s first formal statements on charges of “rebellion and conspiracy.” On the outskirts of the police headquarters, dozens of supporters of the ex-president demanded his release.

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