The Peruvian president changes the interior and mines ministers by surprise

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Peruvian president, Pedro Castillo, changed this Sunday and by surprise the Ministers of the Interior and Mines as part of a reform of his cabinet that also included the renewal of the heads of Transport and Development Agriculture and Irrigation.

The new head of the Interior portfolio is Dimitri Senmache Artola, who replaces Alfonso Chávarry and who was already part of this ministry in November 2021.

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The new head of the Interior previously served as head of the advisory cabinet of the Ministry of the Interior and is an international specialist in security policies.

For her part, Alessandra Herrera Jara will again be the Minister of Energy and Mines, a position that the lawyer already held between February 1 and 8, seven days after which she was replaced by Carlos Palacios, the incumbent until this Sunday of that wallet.

Both ministers will have to deal with the conflict unleashed at the Las Bambas copper mine, which produces 2% of the world’s copper, and whose operation has been paralyzed for months by the communities that inhabit the area due to a confrontation with the company that operates the deposit.

Senmache Artola will also have to deal with possible demonstrations that will be replicated in the coming weeks, such as those that have taken place in recent months in protest at the rise in prices.

As a result of these protests, six people died in different circumstances last April.

In addition, Castillo appointed this Sunday as Minister of Agrarian Development and Irrigation Javier Arce Alvarado, who replaces Oscar Zea, and Juan Barranzuela Quiroa as head of the Transport and Communications portfolio, replacing Nicolás Bustamante.