Manuel Merino resigns as president of Peru – Latin America – International



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The President of Peru, Manuel Merino, announced his resignation this Sunday five days after taking office, amid massive protests against him and after Congress urged him to step down under the threat of removing him anyway.

(Read also: The Peruvian Congress meets and evaluates Merino’s resignation as President)

“I want to acknowledge my resignation to the whole country,” Merino said in a message to the country on television, which sparked a party on the streets of Lima, the day after the violent crackdown on protests that resulted in two deaths and a hundred injured.

I want to acknowledge to the whole country that I have submitted my resignation

Congress must now appoint a new president to pacify the country. The elected will be the third president in less than a week, in a nation hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic and economic recession, which plunged into a political crisis when Parliament On Monday he ousted popular president Martín Vizcarra in a whirlwind process.

Merino said that so that there is no “power vacuum”, the 18 ministers he was sworn in on Thursday will remain in office temporarily, although virtually all of them had resigned after the crackdown on protesters on Saturday.

Protests in Peru

Protesters participated in a massive protest march against the new government of President Manuel Merino in Plaza San Martín de Lima.

The role of the Peruvian Congress

This Sunday, the leaders of the Peruvian Congress began an emergency meeting to seek a way out of the political crisis they themselves unleashed when they ousted President Martín Vizcarra six days ago and put in his place the head of parliament Manuel Merino.

Given the events that have taken place in recent days, they asked Merino to resign immediately to pacify the country, after the repression of mass protests that left two dead and a hundred injured on Saturday.

The fleeting ruler announced his resignation shortly after noon (17:00 GMT), then Congress will designate its successor – chosen from among parliamentarians – in a session convened for 18:00 (23:00 GMT), which means that Peru will not have a president for about six hours.

We agreed to urge the President of the Republic, Manuel Merino, to present his letter of resignation from the presidency of Peru

“At a meeting of spokespersons (the leaders of the nine banks) we agreed to urge the President of the Republic, Manuel Merino, to present his letter of resignation to the presidency of Peru,” said the head of Parliament, Luis Valdez. Who warned him that if he did not resign before 18:00 local time (23:00 GMT), Congress would have started “a process of censorship” that will lead to the removal of the Peruvian president.

As soon as Merino made the announcement, the streets of Lima filled with protesters slamming pans and shouting slogans, in a rowdy party.

AFP

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