Who is Dina Boluarte, Peru's first female president?

Vice-president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, was sworn in on Wednesday as the first female president of the Andean country shortly after the Congress dismissed her predecessor, Pedro Castillo for trying to dismiss Congress. She will hold office until 2026.

"As everyone knows, there has been an attempted coup d'état promoted by Pedro Castillo, which has not found an echo in the institutions of democracy and on the street," she said in her first message to Congress as president.

"My first measure will be to ask for support from the Attorney General's Office and the Public Prosecutor's Office to enter without half measures into the structures corrupted by the mafias within the State and to promote investigations and quick sanctions", she continued amidst applause, quoted RPP.

After former Pedro Castillo tried to dissolve the Congress on Wednesday morning and installed an "emergency government" and curfew in the country, the country’s legislators voted to dismiss him and appointed Dina Boluarte as Head of State. 

During the swearing-in of the new president, the president of Congress, José Williams, thanked the Peruvian political and judicial institutions for rejecting Pedro Castillo's attempted coup d'état.

En defensa de la Constitución, el Congreso de la República se reunió en sesión del Pleno en donde aprobó declarar la vacancia presidencial. En democracia, y de acuerdo a la sucesión constitucional, se procederá a tomar juramento a la vicepresidenta de la República. pic.twitter.com/T8HGC7oZwi

— José Williams Zapata (@Gral_Williams) December 7, 2022

Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra was born in Chalhuanca (Apurimac) in 1962. 

Between 2021 and 2022, she was in charge of the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion (Midis), after she resigned following the appointment of Betssy Chávez as head of the Council of Ministers.

The Peruvian president graduated as a lawyer from Universidad San Martin de Porres and has been practicing law for more than 18 years. She also has a master's degree in Notary and Registry Law from the same academic institution, reported La República.

According to her résumé on the Peruvian government website, she has diplomas in Administrative Law and Public Management, Constitutional Law, Constitutional Procedural Law, and Human Rights. She is also an extrajudicial conciliator.

In 2007, she worked as an advisor to the Senior Management and in 2015 she was appointed as head in charge of the Registry Office of the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (Reniec) in Surco, reported La República. 

On December 5, the Subcommittee of Constitutional Accusations decided by majority to shelve a complaint against the then vice-president, after she was accused of violating the Constitution due to an alleged conflict of interest for the acts she exercised on behalf of the Apurimac Departmental Club before the Municipality of Lima while she was head of Midis, reported RPP.

"We salute Peruvian President Dina Boluarte and her call for national unity. We reaffirm the support of the OAS for democracy, peace, institutionality, and the imperative need to rebuild the democratic path with an inclusive, open, frank, and respectful dialogue," said the head of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, on his Twitter account.