By Anatoly Kurmanaev and Andrea Zarate @ NYTimes.com, Oct. 1

Peru is facing its deepest political crisis in at least three decades, with the president dissolving Congress, Congress then moving to suspend the president — and the vice president, who had stepped up to lead the country, renouncing her position as well.

The vice president, Mercedes Aráoz, said late on Tuesday that she gave up her post because “the constitutional order in Peru is broken.” The head of the dissolved Congress, Pedro Olaechea, who learned of her resignation in the middle of an interview with CNN en Español, said he would also not assume power — a tactical win for the president, Martín Vizcarra, but not the end of turbulence for Peru.

Peru’s dysfunctional and corruption-ridden political system has courted crisis for years, with three former presidents under investigation and another dead after shooting himself during his arrest. But matters came to a head when Mr. Vizcarra confronted the conservative forces controlling Congress and accused them of stonewalling his efforts to fight corruption and pass political reform [....]