Peasant roots to president: the unlikely rise of Peru's Pedro Castillo

FILE PHOTO: Peruvian presidential candidate Pedro Castillo addresses supporters in Lima, Peru, June 8, 2021. REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda/File Photo

LIMA/CHUGUR, Peru (Reuters) - As a boy in Peru's rural north, Pedro Castillo would help collect and crush cane on his family's small farm. Now he is president of the nation, an abrupt rise to power that has shaken up the copper-rich Andean country's political landscape.

Castillo, who began his campaign as a wild card candidate from a Marxist party, takes office on Wednesday facing divisions in the country, in Congress, in the military - and within his own party.