1. Manuel Arturo Merino de Lama was born on 20 August 1961 and is a Peruvian politician who briefly served as President of Peru for five days between 10 and 15 November 2020.
20 Facts About Manuel Merino
1. 2.
Manuel Merino served as the President of Congress from 16 March 2020 to 15 November 2020.
3.
Manuel Arturo Merino de Lama was born on 20 August 1961 in the northern city of Tumbes.
4.
Manuel Merino is the son of Pedro Merino Hidalgo and Elba de Lama Barreto.
5.
Manuel Merino completed his elementary education at the Santa Maria de la Frontera School in 1973, and he finished his secondary education at the "Inmaculada Concepcion" Educational Center in 1978, both in Tumbes.
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Manuel Merino subsequently dropped out and did not complete his undergraduate studies.
7.
That same year, Manuel Merino registered with the center-right political party Popular Action.
8.
In December 2000, Manuel Merino coordinated directly with the different agrarian organizations of the department, to obtain the cancellation of the debts contracted with the State and the refinancing of the same with the private financial entities.
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Manuel Merino subsequently dropped out and did not complete his undergraduate studies.
10.
That same year, Manuel Merino registered with the center-right political party Popular Action.
11.
Manuel Merino was chosen by the Popular Action party to run for a seat in Congress in the 2001 general election.
12.
At the 2006 general election, Manuel Merino failed to attain reelection, as the Center Front coalition only obtained five seats nationally, mostly from Lima.
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From 2011 to 2012, Manuel Merino served as First Vice President of the Congress, during Daniel Abugattas congressional presidency.
14.
Manuel Merino was an alternate spokesperson for the Popular Action-Broad Front parliamentary caucus, and Vice President of the Amazon Congressional Caucus, from 2011 to 2013.
15.
Manuel Merino's brother was granted another government contract one month before Merino took office in March 2020.
16.
Manuel Merino faced criticism regarding how he hastily pushed for impeachment proceedings against Vizcarra.
17.
Minister of Defense Jorge Chavez confirmed that Manuel Merino had tried to establish support with the military.
18.
Subsequent reports were later released that Manuel Merino had contacted officials throughout the government while preparing to create a transitional cabinet and that Manuel Merino had tried to communicate with the Chief of the Joint Command of the Peruvian Armed Forces, Cesar Astudillo Salcedo, and Navy Commander, Fernando Cerdan, in order to "give them peace of mind".
19.
On 9 November 2020, following Vizcarra's appearance before Congress, Manuel Merino initiated the final debate in order to proceed to voting on the impeachment at night.
20.
Later, after Manuel Merino affirmed in a tweet that this decision of the Constitutional Court ratified the constitutionality of his promotion to the presidency, the magistrate of the Constitutional Court, Eloy Espinosa-Saldana, stated that this is not correct because the Constitutional Court did not have any pronouncement and that cannot be understood as ratification as Merino affirmed.