LIMA — Peru's Congress leader Jose Jeri was sworn in as the country's president early on Friday, shortly after the Congress removed former President Dina Boluarte from office.

Peru's lawmakers demanded Boluarte appear at a Congress session to defend herself before voting to approve her impeachment on Thursday night. But Boluarte did not attend the meeting. The Congress passed the impeachment against her shortly afterward.

Jeri, who became Peru's seventh president since 2016, signaled that he would take a tough approach to rising insecurity, one of the major criticisms leveled against Boluarte. He addressed Congress wearing a sash of the national flag.

"The main enemy is out there on the streets: criminal gangs," he said. "We must declare war on crime."

The 38-year-old member of the conservative Somos Peru party, who became Congress president in July, joins the ranks of some of the world's youngest heads of state.

Crowds had gathered outside Congress and the embassy, where it was rumored Boluarte could seek asylum. Some were in a celebratory mood, waving flags, dancing and playing instruments.

Shortly after Congress voted to remove her, Boluarte made an address at the presidential palace where she acknowledged that the same Congress that had sworn her in late 2022 had now voted her removal, "with the implications this has for the stability of democracy in our country". "At every moment, I called for unity," she said.

Lawmakers from across the political spectrum had summoned Boluarte to defend herself before Congress on Thursday night. She never arrived, and lawmakers had sufficient votes to proceed with a rapid impeachment process.

Congress' vote for Boluarte's removal marks an about-turn after lawmakers rejected a series of prior motions for removal, none of which made it to the debate stage.

The latest push was marked by the participation of right-wing parties that have historically supported her, including Rafael Lopez's Popular Renewal and Keiko Fujimori's Popular Force. Both political heavyweights are expected to stand for president in the presidential election in April 2026.

Boluarte came to power in December 2022 when her predecessor, president Pedro Castillo, under whom she had served as vice-president, was ousted and arrested after attempting to dissolve Congress.

Agencies - Xinhua