New prime minister rules out confrontational mood in Peru

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Peruvian President Pedro Castillo on Tuesday named a lawyer and close ally as the new prime minister.

Aníbal Torres will head his fourth cabinet in six months in office as Castillo tries to overcome a series of political crises in the mining country.

The new Prime Minister assured that the cabinet he leads is not bent on confrontation, as alleged by the Peruvian opposition, which is waging a campaign against President Pedro Castillo.

“We have no desire for confrontation. They will provoke us, but it will remain so because we will not respond,” said Anibal Torres at the end of the first Council of Ministers amid the acute political crisis that the government has faced for more than a week.

Aníbal Torres added that he was aware of his role and that his team was very open to dialogue.

Hours earlier, President Pedro Castillo rejected accusations from right-wing circles that the government intended to provoke the constitutional closure of the opposition-controlled parliament.

“They have said that we want to close Congress to stay in power. This kind of thing comes from those who do not have the concerns of a governor before his people and do not want the country’s great demands to take precedence,” the president said.

The political crisis in which Peru finds itself has led the opposition, which dominates Congress, and some media outlets to call for Pedro Castillo’s resignation, which was joined by Ombudsman Walter Gutiérrez, who called on the president to step down.

In light of the political attacks on President Castillo, the ultra-left Puebla faction issued a communiqué in support of the Peruvian government.

In a message circulated on social networks, the alliance pointed out that an unconstitutional departure of Pedro Castillo would be rejected by the entire region and the entire world.

Whereby by “the whole world” is meant the well-organized ‘international left’.