Peru ousts president following his attempt to dissolve Congress
LIMA, Peru — The president of Peru was ousted by Congress Wednesday after he sought to dissolve the legislative body and take unilateral control of the government, triggering a grave constitutional crisis.
Vice President Dina Boluarte replaced Pedro Castillo and became the first female leader in the history of the republic after hours of wrangling between the legislature and the president.
Boluarte, a 60-year-old lawyer, called for a political truce and the installation of a national unity government.
“What I ask for is a space, a time to rescue the country,” she said.
Lawmakers voted 101-6 with 10 abstentions to remove Castillo from office for reasons of “permanent moral incapacity.”
He left the presidential palace in an automobile that carried him through Lima’s historic downtown. He entered a police station, where his status was not immediately clear.
Shortly before the vote,
Castillo announced that he was installing a new emergency government and would rule by decree. He ordered a nightly curfew starting Wednesday. The head of Peru’s army then resigned, along with four ministers, including those over foreign affairs and the economy.
United States Ambassador Lisa Kenna called on Castillo via Twitter to reverse his decree to dissolve Congress, saying the U.S. government rejected any “extra-constitutional” actions by the president to interfere with Congress. A short time later, the vote to remove Castillo was taken.
The peasant-turned-president said he’s paying for mistakes made due to inexperience. But he said a certain sector of Congress “has as its only agenda item removing me from office because they never accepted the results of an election that you, my dear Peruvians, determined with your votes.”
Colorado club shooting:
Authorities said the person who would later kill five at a Colorado gay nightclub was on the FBI’s radar a day before being arrested for threatening to kill family members but agents closed the case weeks later.
The details of the June 17, 2021, tip to the FBI are not known. But the next day, Anderson Lee Aldrich’s grandparents ran from their Colorado Springs home and called 911, saying Aldrich was building a bomb and had threatened to kill them.
Details of the case remain sealed, but an arrest affidavit verified by The Associated Press detailed how Aldrich was upset the grandparents were moving to Florida because it would get in the way of his plans to conduct a mass shooting and bombing.
The grandparents were concerned about Aldrich before the 911 call, according to the document, with the grandmother telling authorities she and her husband had been “living in fear” because of Aldrich’s “recent homicidal threats toward them and others.”
As part of the FBI’s probe, the agency said it coordinated with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, which had responded to the June 18, 2021, call from Aldrich’s grandparents and arrested Aldrich, now 22, on felony menacing and kidnapping charges. But about a month after getting the tip, the FBI closed its assessment of Aldrich.
Ex-Theranos exec: A judge on Wednesday sentenced former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani to nearly 13 years in prison for his role in the company’s blood-testing hoax.
Balwani, 57, was convicted in July of fraud and conspiracy connected to bogus medical technology that duped investors and endangered patients. His sentencing came weeks after Elizabeth Holmes, the company’s founder and CEO, received more than 11 years in prison for her part in the scheme.
The scandal revolved around the company’s false claims to have developed a device that could scan for hundreds of diseases and other potential problems with just a few drops of blood taken with a finger prick.
Holmes, 38, could have gotten up to 20 years in prison — a penalty U.S. District Judge Edward Davila could have imposed on Balwani, who spent six years as Theranos’ chief operating officer while remaining romantically involved with Holmes until their bitter breakup in 2016.
Whitey Bulger’s death: The 2018 beating death of gangster James “Whitey” Bulger by fellow inmates was the result of management failures, widespread incompetence and flawed policies at the Bureau of Prisons, the Justice Department’s inspector general said in a report Wednesday.
At least six bureau workers should be disciplined, the watchdog concluded after the investigation into how the 89-year-old was killed in his cell hours after the FBI informant arrived at a troubled West Virginia prison.
The inspector general found no evidence of “malicious intent” by any bureau employees, but said a series of bureaucratic blunders left Bulger at the mercy of rival gangsters behind bars. The report did not find evidence of federal criminal violations.
Ethiopia-Tigray crisis: Electricity and telecommunications have been restored to key parts of Ethiopia’s Tigray region following the signing of a cease-fire deal a month ago, but most areas are still cut off from the world.
The agreement signed Nov. 2 requires Ethiopia’s federal government to restore basic services to Tigray, which has been mostly without phone, internet and banking services since war erupted two years ago. Power has also been disrupted to the region of more than 5 million people.
On Tuesday, the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported that Tigray’s capital, Mekele, had been reconnected to the national power grid following maintenance to a transmission line.
Gerald Fischman