President Castillo distances himself from Peru Libre party, strengthens moderate wing of his cabinet

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, staged this Wednesday (6) a distancing with the ruling Peru Libre party by recomposing his Cabinet without the ministers closest to the controversial leader of this Marxist party, Vladimir Cerron, and reinforcing the more moderate wing of the cabinet.

Among the seven ministers removed by Castillo is the Prime Minister, Guido Bellido, who was replaced by Mirtha Vásquez, former president of the Congress during the transition period after the political crisis of November 2020.

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After 70 days from the beginning of Castillo’s term, the ruler asked Bellido to resign, and hours later, he was swearing in Vásquez and the new cabinet at the Government Palace in Lima.

Although Bellido declared that he did not know the reasons for his departure from the government, the opposition in Congress greeted his resignation in unison due to the confrontation he had with the Parliament, especially after the interpellation of the former Minister of Labor, Iber Maraví, for his alleged links with the Shining Path.

Bellido himself had an investigation for an alleged apology to terrorism for having praised Edith Lagos, a deceased militant of the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso in his social networks.

Also, this Wednesday, he had a restraining order for alleged macho violence against opposition congresswoman Patricia Chirinos.

“BETRAYAL” FOR PERU LIBRE

The cabinet reshuffle was considered a “betrayal” by Peru Libre, whose congressmen went as a group to the Government Palace to demand Castillo that the party, with 37 legislators in the Parliament, be represented in the government.

The party rejected the departure of Bellido, a man of Cerrón’s complete confidence, and rejected the presence of “conservatives, ‘caviars’ (well-off leftists) and traitors”.

“It is time for Perú Libre to demand its share of power, guaranteeing its real presence or the bench take a firm position,” Cerrón expressed through a message on Twitter, in what could be interpreted as an eventual break with the presidency.

In principle, Cerrón, a doctor politically trained in Cuba, should have been the presidential candidate of Perú Libre in the last elections. Still, he could not run because he was convicted for corruption during his term as governor of the central Andean region of Junín.

Due to this circumstance, Castillo, a Peruvian teachers’ union leader, was invited to be the candidate of Peru Libre to pass the electoral hurdle and have representation in Congress. Without imagining that he would end up becoming president since, in the beginning, he was not among the favorites.

LEFTIST LAWYER AS PRIME MINISTER

After several weeks in which several sectors asked for a more plural cabinet and a more significant female presence, Castillo called to be Prime Minister, lawyer Mirtha Vásquez, a legislator for the leftist Frente Amplio movement and president of Congress until last July.

Vásquez took the oath of office “for this country of women and men who fight to live with dignity every day, without discrimination and who promote real changes”.

In the new cabinet, Foreign Minister Oscar Maúrtua, Minister of Economy Pedro Francke, Minister of Health, Hernando Cevallos, Minister of Justice, Aníbal Torres, and Minister of Defense, Walter Ayala, were ratified in their positions.

Likewise, Roberto Sanchez in Foreign Trade and Tourism, Juan Francisco Silva in Transportation and Communications, Geiner Alvarado in Housing, Construction and Sanitation, Anahi Durand in Women and Vulnerable Populations, and Vice President Dina Boluarte in Development and Social Inclusion continue.

PORTFOLIO FOR CONGRESSWOMAN CRITICAL OF CERRÓN

On the other hand, among the changes made in the cabinet are the entry of the pro-government legislator Betssy Chávez to replace Iber Maraví in the Ministry of Labor, after the congresswoman of Perú Libre had stood out for being one of the most critical figures against Cerrón and Bellido.

Likewise, Luis Barranzuela replaced Juan Carrasco in the Ministry of the Interior, Carlos Gallardo replaced Juan Cadillo in the office of Education, and Gisela Ortiz returned Ciro Galvez in the Ministry of Culture.

As established in the Peruvian Constitution, Vásquez will have a period of one month to present her work plan to Congress and request a vote of confidence from the Legislature.