On December 7, Peru’s Congress was scheduled to vote on the impeachment of President Pedro Castillo.

It wasn’t the first time. It was the third attempt at impeachment, one of so many mechanisms employed by Congress, elites, and the press to delegitimize Castillo and remove him from power. That same day, Castillo shocked the country with his response: a message to the nation in which he declared the dissolution of Congress.

Castillo’s desperate maneuver wouldn’t find establishment support. The federal police and armed forces quickly turned their backs on Castillo, arrested him, and handed him over to the attorney general, while Congress rushed through the scheduled impeachment and the swearing in of his vice president, Dina Boluarte. The latter had already broken off relations with Castillo weeks earlier. Heading off toward Congress — the country’s most disgraced and despised institution — and ignoring those already taking to the streets to call for elections, she announced that her government would complete its term in 2026.