Peru’s presidential merry-go-round revolves once more

At the beginning of the century, Argentina had a dreadful couple of weeks that would make magical realism pioneer Gabriel Garcia Márquez blush. After the economy hit rock bottom in 2001, violent protests broke out that obliterated the political system. In the last ten days of that year, Argentina went through five different presidents.

Nineteen years later, Peru is on a similar path, as 76-year-old lawmaker Francisco Sagasti became the country’s third different head of state in the space of a week.

He was elected by Congress on Monday, after the resignation of interim President Manuel Merino, who had taken office following the removal of Martín Vizcarra. Indeed, Mr. Vizcarra himself was a replacement for another disgraced leader, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who resigned in 2018.

The latest change in power came as a result of violent protests against Mr. Vizcarra’s removal. The ousting of the president was deeply unpopular among the population, with demonstrators taking to the street denouncing what they called a parliamentary coup. Two people...