LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Peru swears in Boluarte after Castillo removed, detained

The latest in Latin American politics today: Peru gets sixth president in five years after Castillo removed LIMA - Peru's Congress swore in a new president in a day of sweeping political drama that saw the former leader, Pedro Castillo, arrested after his ousting from office in an impeachment trial hours after he attempted a last-ditch bid to stay in power by trying to dissolve Congress. Ignoring Castillo's attempt to shut down the legislature by decree, lawmakers moved ahead with the previously planned impeachment trial, with 101 votes in favor of removing him, six against and 10 abstentions.

The latest in Latin American politics today:

Peru gets sixth president in five years after Castillo removed LIMA - Peru's Congress swore in a new president in a day of sweeping political drama that saw the former leader, Pedro Castillo, arrested after his ousting from office in an impeachment trial hours after he attempted a last-ditch bid to stay in power by trying to dissolve Congress.

Ignoring Castillo's attempt to shut down the legislature by decree, lawmakers moved ahead with the previously planned impeachment trial, with 101 votes in favor of removing him, six against and 10 abstentions. Vice President Dina Boluarte was sworn in as president through 2026, making her the first woman to lead Peru. She called for a political truce after months of instability, while lambasting Castillo's move to dissolve Congress as an "attempted coup."

The public ministry said that Castillo had been detained and accused of the crimes of "rebellion" and "conspiracy" for breaking the constitutional order. Guatemala court sentences ex-President Perez, ex-VP in graft case

GUATEMALA CITY - A Guatemalan court sentenced former President Otto Perez and his vice president, Roxana Baldetti, to 16 years in prison each in a graft case years after explosive corruption revelations forced the two out of office early and into prison. The pair were found guilty of illicit association and customs fraud but were acquitted on a charge of illicit enrichment.

Perez, who was president of Guatemala from 2012 to 2015, has spent the last seven years in prison awaiting a verdict in the case. Baldetti was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison in 2018 in a separate fraud case. Brazil's Senate approves bill raising 2023-24 spending cap

BRASILIA - Brazil's Senate approved a constitutional amendment that increases the spending ceiling, allowing the incoming government of President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to fund the extension of social welfare payments for poor families. The bill, which was passed with 64 votes for and 13 against, must now be approved by the country's lower house.

Mexico targets resolution of U.S. energy spat MEXICO CITY - Mexico has submitted proposals aimed at resolving a sizeable part of an energy dispute with the United States, and wants to give companies confidence they can invest in the country, the economy ministry said.

Washington and Ottawa in July demanded dispute settlement talks with Mexico, arguing that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's nationalist energy policies hurt their firms and breached the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade deal. Mexico has been working since then to avoid the dispute reaching an arbitration panel that could prove costly.

"We want to make quick progress so as not to distract the investor and so they don't lose interest in coming to Mexico," Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro told a news conference. Mexico lower house backs lesser electoral overhaul after first plan fails

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's lower house of Congress approved an alternative overhaul of electoral laws, just hours after Lopez Obrador's initial, more ambitious bill failed to win the two-thirds majority it needed. The so-called "Plan B", which would shrink the budget of the national electoral authority (INE) and water down its faculties, has drawn heated criticism from opposition lawmakers, who fear the changes would give too much power to the government. (Compiled by Steven Grattan and Brendan O'Boyle; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Savio D'Souza)

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