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Peruvian President Pedro Castillo Makes History

NPR

Published August 6, 2021 at 11:20 AM CDT

President-elect Pedro Castillo arrives to the Foreign Ministry before going to Congress for his swearing-in ceremony on his Inauguration Day in Lima, Peru, on July 28, 2021. (Guadalupe Pardo/AP)

Peru’s new leftist President Pedro Castillo was sworn into office last week. The inauguration came nearly six weeks after a historical run-off election.

Castillo is a 51-year-old former rural school teacher who has never held office. This is the first time in decades that Peru has had a president with no connections to the country’s political or economic elite. He is also the first “peasant” president in the country’s history.

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd talks with historian Gonzalo Romero.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.