Peru’s Prime Minister, Anibal Torres, informed on Wednesday via Twitter that he presented his resignation to President Pedro Castillo, alleging “personal reasons” when the government is going through a political storm due to fiscal investigations of alleged corruption in the ruling environment.
Torres, who had assumed the presidency of the Council of Ministers in February, had become a fierce defender of the president in the face of corruption allegations and constant attacks from the opposition-dominated Congress.
“I am retiring from office after serving, together with you, our homeland, especially the most neglected and forgotten people,” Torres said in the letter disseminated on the social network Twitter.
His resignation comes as President Castillo faces five investigations, among them for alleged crimes of influence peddling, obstruction of justice, and even plagiarism of his master’s thesis as a professor.
Castillo, a former unionist and public school teacher, has denied the accusations and has accused the “oligarchy and powers that be” of seeking his ouster.
The president, who has made an unprecedented rotation of ministers during his term, must now decide whether to accept Torres’ resignation or announce his replacement, who would be the fifth prime minister within a year of taking office.
The political uncertainty facing Castillo is compounded by the social conflicts in the world’s second-largest copper producer, which have slowed mining operations and dented investor confidence, even though the president has moderated his discourse of greater state intervention in the economy.
With information from La Tercera