Peru swears in new president after turmoil: Update

Adds details on transition.

Peru's months of political upheaval extended to the president's office today when congress ousted President Pedro Castillo for an attempted self-coup and swore in his vice president.

Castillo earlier in the day had tried to dissolve congress ahead of an impeachment vote and install an emergency government, a move that follows months of instability in the cabinet and accusations of corruption within his government. Castillo was arrested today, Peru's national police confirmed.

The US embassy in Peru had called for Castillo to reverse his decision to close congress in a tweet. Peruvian politicians and independent government agencies including the ombudsman's office denounced the move as a self-coup attempt.

Dina Boluarte, a lawyer and former minister, vowed to "defend national sovereignty" in a televised speech upon taking the oath of office.

An attorney and former civil servant who was part of Castillo's presidential ticket in last year's election, Boluarte is Peru's first female president and its sixth leader in the past five years. A wave of corruption scandals have led to constant power struggles between the executive and legislative branches.

She promised in her inauguration speech to try to unite the country and work with the opposition to put the needs of the country first, and said one of her top priorities would be to focus on supporting economic growth.

But Boluarte is not a well-known figure in Peru and will have to contend with a population that has grown tired of their elected officials. In polls before she took office, most Peruvians favored new general elections, with only a fraction preferring Boluarte remain in power to replace Castillo until 2026.

While she has used populist rhetoric like Castillo, Boluarte is seen as more conciliatory and pro-business. She said she would form a broad-based government and would work closely with lawmakers of all parties in congress to avoid confrontations.

Castillo had been elected president last year on promises to rewrite the constitution in favor of the poor. He gave up his more radical plans once in office, but his administration was marked by constant chaos and the erosion of state institutions. In his 16 months as president, Castillo named more than 80 ministers and came under investigation in six criminal probes, most involving alleged corruption and influence trafficking.

Boluarte is expected to form a cabinet in the coming days.

No fuel for the fire

The political problems had already weighed on the energy sector in recent months.

Among the corruption accusations that touched off the crisis were a growing graft scandal involving Castillo and a former chief of PetroPeru. In the wake of this, PetroPeru's financial situation deteriorated rapidly this year after it failed to produce an audit of its 2021 statements. Fears of fuel shortages because of a lack of funds for imports and other operational and logistics concerns led the government in October to sign off on a $1.5bn bailout of the company.

Some relief on fuel volumes was expected to come if PetroPeru's flagship Talara refinery resumes full operations as schedule by 15 December after a three-year closure. Spain's Repsol runs the country's second refinery, the 117,000 b/d La Pampilla.

Peru produces about 40,000 b/d of crude, and China National Petroleum is one of the top producers.

Peru also has one of only two active LNG export facilities in Latin America, the 4.4mn t/yr Pampa Melchorita terminal. Peru exported 120,000t of LNG in September.

It is the world's second-largest copper producer, with output of 232,464t in October.

By Mitra Taj and Carla Bass