The president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, announced this Friday night (4) that he will make new changes in his cabinet. The team, the third in just over six months of government, was appointed last Tuesday (1st) and had not even passed Congressional approval.
“I took the decision to recompose the ministerial cabinet,” Castillo declared in a brief televised address. The leftist did not specify what changes he would make, but the decision likely implies the departure of prime minister-nominated Héctor Valer.
The president only stressed that he made the decision after a disagreement between the leaders of Parliament and the prime minister. Valer had asked to present his plan of action, the process that begins the vote on the motion of confidence, as early as this Saturday (5), but the request was rejected.
The prime minister nominee has a peculiar political trajectory. A deputy elected by an ultra-right party, he broke with the party for disagreeing with a movement to question the election won by Castillo and went on to lead a parliamentary bloc that defended a new Constitution. This week, he was appointed to the government of a left-wing, populist and conservative president.
His appointment, however, was criticized for personal problems. The Peruvian press revealed that he was accused in 2016 of having assaulted his daughter and his ex-wife – justice would have granted both protective measures against him. Valer denies it and, this week, he said he was not an abuser, claiming to have only “scolded his daughter many times as any father does in the house”.
The politician also guaranteed that he would be at the head of the Council of Ministers, unless he had the vote of confidence denied by Congress.
It turns out that this was a very likely option. This Friday, the president of Parliament, the opposition María del Carmen Alva, asked Valer to resign. Three other cabinet colleagues also questioned him publicly. “Public exercise requires officials free from these denunciations,” wrote the new chancellor, César Landa.
On Tuesday, Castillo named his third cabinet in just over six months in office. The process had to be done because of the resignation of the then prime minister Mirtha Vázquez – Peruvian legislation determines that, in the event of the resignation of the prime minister, when appointing another occupant to the position, the president must appoint a whole new cabinet.
Of the 19 team starters, Castillo had announced 10 changes. The most important were, in addition to the leadership of the Council of Ministers, in the Economy (with Óscar Graham replacing the moderate Pedro Francke, who pleased the market) and in the Interior. It was in this portfolio, in fact, that the current crisis began, with the resignation of Avelino Guillén on the 28th.
Guillén resigned after clashing with the commander-general of the National Police, Javier Gallardo, opposing a series of changes in officers. Mirtha Vázquez entered the circuit to try to dissuade him from the idea, but ended up preferring to leave too, saying that the ministry was experiencing a chaotic situation and the government, a critical moment.
The new interior nominee, Alfonso Chávarry, is also involved in suspicion, having been chief of police in the province of Cajamarca. The appointments of Katy Ugarte in the Ministry of Women, Wilber Supo in the Environment and Alejandro Salas in Culture have also been criticized in recent days.
Castillo did not indicate when he would appoint the new cabinet, he only promised that “the changes will take into account the opening to political, academic and professional forces of the country”.
Since taking office on July 28, after defeating Keiko Fujimori by a small margin in the second round, the leftist leader has already faced calls for an impeachment of the election, the resignation of the head of the Armed Forces shortly before taking office, an impeachment process. which ended up being rejected in Congress and occasional dismissals of assistants – for controversial statements, denunciations of irregularities and for holding a party amid restrictions imposed by the government to contain the pandemic.
This is without counting the formation of two cabinets, which took place amid friction with his own party, Perú Libre; leaders more to the left of the party criticized the indication of names they called “caviares”, more moderate. Vásquez had been named prime minister after the departure of Guido Bellido, who is responding to corruption and terrorism prosecutions, for comments praising the Shining Path — a guerrilla that, in conflict with the state, caused the death of more than 70,000 Peruvians. .
In previous appointments, Castillo has been tested by fire in Congress. In the first one, two sessions and more than 18 hours were needed to grant the vote of confidence; in the second, there were ten hours of debate, marked by the death of a deputy, who had felt ill hours before.
Source: Folha
