LIMA- Peruvian President Martín Vizcarra’s job is on the line Friday as opposition lawmakers push through an impeachment hearing criticized as a hasty and poorly timed ouster attempt in one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Lawmakers appeared to be far short of the two-thirds majority vote required to remove Vizcarra from office, but even if he dodged the impeachment attempt analysts warned that he would not escape the ordeal entirely unscathed.
His ability to carry forward the anti-corruption agenda he has sought to make the hallmark of his short but eventful administration could be further jeopardized if Vizcarra is perceived as having engaged in influence peddling himself.
“His credibility in carrying through that agenda is already problematic,” said Jo-Marie Burt, a senior fellow with the Washington Office on Latin America. “This really hangs in the balance.”
The political turmoil rocking Peru has briefly distracted attention from one of the world’s worst coronavirus outbreaks and involves a cast of characters that could easily fit into a soap opera.
At the center of the ordeal is Vizcarra’s relationship with a little-known musician known as Richard Swing and nearly $50,000 in questionable contracts that he was given by the Ministry of Culture for activities like motivational speaking.