Castillo appoints his fifth ministerial cabinet amid political tension in Peru

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was sworn in on Friday for his new ministerial train, which will be led by Prime Minister Betssy Chávez, who assumed the Presidency of the Council of Ministers after the resignation of Aníbal Torres.

This new cabinet, the fifth since the head of state took office in July 2021, keeps 12 ministerial heads in office and has renewed six others.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Peru

In this sense, Castillo ratified César Landa in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Daniel Barragán in Defense, Willy Huerta in Interior, Félix Chero in Justice and Human Rights and Rosendo Serna in Education.

He also left Kelly Portalatino in the Health portfolio, Alejandro Salas in Labor and Employment Promotion, Roberto Sánchez in Foreign Trade and Tourism, Richard Tineo in Transportation and Communications; and César Paniagua in Housing, Construction and Sanitation.

Likewise, the president ratified Kurt Burneo in the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and Wilbert Rozas in the Environment portfolio.

Meanwhile, he renewed the Ministries of Agrarian Development and Irrigation with Juan Altamirano, Production with Eduardo Mora, Energy and Mines with Oliverio Muñoz, Women and Vulnerable Populations with Heidy Juárez, Culture with Silvana Robles and Development and Social Inclusion with Cinthya Pretty.

Betssy Chávez, currently under investigation by the Public Ministry, must go to Parliament in the next few days to request a new question of confidence for her cabinet.

The Peruvian head of state proceeded today to renew his ministerial train in response to Parliament’s decision to reject “outright” the proposal made by Aníbal Torres on November 17 on the issue of trust.

The decision was made by the board of directors of Parliament, so the request for confidence did not reach plenary for a vote and, consequently, be approved or rejected by a legislative majority.

After Castillo officials assured that the Executive considers trust “denied”, the president of Congress, José Williams, asserted that “there is no factual denial” of this mechanism and that the Government “cannot interpret the meaning of the legislative’s decisions.”

In this context, the Board of Spokespersons of Parliament agreed this Friday that an extraordinary session of the Plenary be convened, with a view to evaluating the filing of a jurisdictional claim and a precautionary measure before the Constitutional Court against Castillo for considering the existence of a “factual refusal”.

With information from Xinhua