Yesterday, the political crisis in Peru continued as former president Pedro Castillo appeared in court after a failed attempt to dissolve a hostile congress, and his successor sought ways to unite the country.

At his initial court appearance, Mr. Castillo appeared despondent as he responded with simple yes or no questions, and his attorney argued that he had been arbitrarily detained and dismissed based on fabricated charges.

The United States condemned his illegal power grab, and even his leftist allies in the region have refused to come to his aid.

Yesterday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador referred to Mr. Castillo's removal as a "soft coup" fueled by entrenched racism against the former Andean highlands schoolteacher.

Mr. López Obrador stated that he had approved Mr. Castillo's request for asylum. On his way to the Mexican embassy in Lima, Mr. Castillo was intercepted by police, according to the source.

Mr. Castillo went from decreeing the dissolution of Peru's Congress to being replaced by his vice president in just three tumultuous hours, but the threats to his government had been mounting throughout his nearly 17-month presidency.

The political outsider, who narrowly won a June 2021 runoff election by 44,000 votes, entered a no-holds-barred political battlefield. By Wednesday evening, after a day of intense political drama, prosecutors announced that Mr. Castillo had been arrested on charges of rebellion.

Castillo's presidency appeared doomed to fail from the outset.

Rural Peru supported him because of his campaign promises to nationalize Peru's key mining industry and rewrite the constitution. Several of Mr. Castillo's Cabinet nominees have been accused of wrongdoing since he assumed office, causing him immediate difficulty.

Vice president Dina Boluarte, a 60-year-old attorney, has now been inaugurated as Peru's first female president.

She stated that her priority would be to combat corruption.