A shooting at a concert in Peru’s capital may prove to be the undoing of Dina Boluarte’s presidency as it laid bare the steep rise in crime that her country has experienced in recent years.
Lawmakers on Thursday, just hours after the shooting, submitted to Parliament five requests for a vote to remove Boluarte from office over what they argued is her government’s inability to stem crime across the South American country. Unlike eight previous attempts to remove her, almost all legislative factions expressed support for the requests.
Each petition now requires 56 votes from the 130-member unicameral Parliament to open a debate. A measure then needs 87 votes to remove Boluarte, who took office in December 2022 after Parliament used the same mechanism to impeach her predecessor.
Boluarte’s government has struggled to respond to the spike in crime, particularly homicides and extortion. On Wednesday, she partially blamed the situation on immigrants living in the country illegally.
“This crime has been brewing for decades and has been strengthened by illegal immigration, which past administrations haven’t defeated,” she said during a military ceremony. “Instead, they’ve opened the doors of our borders and allowed criminals to enter everywhere… without any restrictions.”
Official figures show that 6,041 people were killed between January and mid-August, the highest number during the same period since 2017. Meanwhile, extortion complaints totaled 15,989 between January and July, a 28% increase compared to the same period in 2024.
The country’s latest presidential crisis erupted after a man opened fire and injured five people Wednesday during a concert of Peru’s most popular cumbia groups, Agua Marina.
Prime Minister Eduardo Arana on Thursday defended Boluarte during a crime-focused hearing before Parliament, but it was not enough to dissuade lawmakers from pursuing the motions to see the president out of office.
“Parliament’s concerns are not resolved by addressing a request for impeachment, much less by approving it,” Arana told lawmakers. “We are not clinging to our positions. We are here, and we knew from the beginning that our first day here could also be our last day in office.”
