New Peru president sworn in after resignation

LIMA, PERU — A little-known former governor was sworn in as Peru’s president on Friday hours after the congress voted to accept the resignation of president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski following a corruption scandal.

Martin Vizcarra took the oath of office shortly after 1 p.m. and was given the presidential sash by congressional president Luis Galarreta.

Earlier, congress voted to grant Kuczynski’s request to step down after just 20 months in power, but rejected his written arguments that he was doing so as a result of his opponents’ constant plotting to undermine his rule.

Vizcarra received something of a hero’s welcome shortly after midnight Friday when he arrived in Peru from Canada, where he had been serving as ambassador, amid one of the most politically turbulent periods in Peru’s recent history.

Supporters welcomed him at the airport with a large cake in the red and white colours of Peru’s flag celebrating his 55th birthday Thursday. A marching band was on hand and some people carried signs reading “Peru is with Vizcarra.”

“With faith and optimism, Peru will always move forward,” he said in brief remarks from his home.

A last-minute hitch Friday had threatened to delay the transition of power. Kuczynski said in a tweet that the proposed language of a congressional resolution approving his resignation is “unacceptable,” and if lawmakers press forward with the wording he would reverse his decision to quit, forcing congress to go forward to try to impeach him.

In the end, the language was removed. But congress nonetheless rebuked the Kuczynski, 79, scolding him for a “political crisis that is the result of wrongful acts that he, the president, has committed,” according to the final text of the resolution.

Efforts to oust the unpopular Kuczynski led by the daughter of former strongman Alberto Fujimori have been building for months. But the campaign went into overdrive this week after the emergence of secretly shot videos showing allies of Kuczynski, including Fujimori’s son, allegedly attempting to buy the support of an opposition lawmaker to block the president’s impeachment. To stem an even more disgraceful exit, Kuczynski delivered a resignation letter to congress Wednesday, blaming relentless attacks by his opponents for making it impossible to govern.

Kuczynski’s downfall was his association with Odebrecht, the Brazilian construction giant that has admitted to spreading some US$800 million in bribes to officials across Latin America, including $29 million in Peru.

For months, even as three of his predecessors became ensnared in the bribery scandal, Kuczynski vehemently denied having any business or political ties to the company. But documents presented by Keiko Fujimori’s Popular Force party showed his consulting firm had received $782,000 in payments from Odebrecht a decade ago, some of them when he was a government minister.

The former Wall Street investor said he wasn’t then managing the day-to-day affairs of his consulting business and denied any wrongdoing.

Stepping into the void left by Kuczynski is Vizcarra, whose name wasn’t recognized by 81 per cent of Peruvians in a March poll by Ipsos. His only previous experience in public office before becoming vice-president in 2016 was as governor of Peru’s secondleast populated province.