Pedro Castillo's cabinet in Peru: a lot of left, few women and no Minister of Economy

Alvaro Mellizo

07/30/2021 13:06

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 07/30/2021 1:06 PM

The appointment of the first Executive of President Pedro Castillo in Peru has made it clear that the rural teacher bets a lot on the left,

very little on women

and leaves enormous uncertainty on the economic side.

The controversial and harshly criticized appointments place Castillo

closer to the radical left

defended by the Peru Libre party than to the moderation he exhibited in the electoral campaign, with a team that is more confrontational than conciliatory and more oriented to satisfy the different sectors. on the left

than to unite a

radically fragmented and polarized country.

These are some of the keys that explain the situation in Peru.

Economy

Castillo

has no one in the Ministry of the Economy

and it will be difficult for him to find a professional who accepts to take responsibility.

His best option to reaffirm the moderation and smooth handling of the economy was

Pedro Francke

, his main advisor on the matter to date and of whom it was speculated was going to be responsible for the portfolio for market relief and a large part of the citizenship.

But the economist

was not to the liking of Vladimir Cerrón

, the leader of Peru Libre, nor of the new prime minister Guido Bellido, under whose leadership Francke appears to have refused to work.

"Francke has walked through the false door when he did a heroic job these last weeks to transmit a message from the center-left that opened up paths in all sectors. If they let him go to keep Bellido, it is because

Castillo believes that is what it has to be done

. It will cost him a lot to find a solvent minister, "said political analyst Sandro Venturo.

Cerrón's weight

All the decisions made by Castillo suggest that Cerrón, a controversial Marxist doctor, former regional governor convicted of corruption and legally prevented from holding public office,

influences the

president's

decisions more

than he admitted.

Pedro Castillo (c), participates in a military parade for the National Holidays at the Army Headquarters, in Lima (Peru).

Photo: EFE

The figure of Cerrón

is toxic

for many, even for a large part of those who voted for Castillo and who were confident that he would distance himself from it.

Appointing Bellido as premier,

a homophobic politician

, who believes that Cuba is a democracy and who finds it difficult to describe the Shining Path atrocities as terrorism, is an opposite step.

Bellido's only political virtue seems to be his proximity to the party leader.

Pedro Castillo (right) with Guido Bellido in the Pampa de la Quinua.

Photo: EFE

"Castillo's alliance with Cerrón is clear. The election of Bellido and keeping him in power over figures like Francke, what he does is simply make it transparent," Venturo summed up.

Old left

The Executive is

eminently political

and has representatives from various sectors of the left, including deputies, former deputies, former candidates, historical figures, and trade unionists.

What it does not have are

independent centers

that allow it to give a message of openness, "broad-based" and with a vocation for dialogue.

"It is

a provincial left

, which is used to confrontation and polarization to negotiate from that conflict scenario. But they do not understand that the scenario in Peru today is not adequate for that way of doing politics," Venturo said.

Pedro Castillo takes the oath of Foreign Minister Héctor Béjar.

Photo: EFE

Beyond that, it is also a conservative, traditional and

"anachronistic" left government

, as denoted by profiles such as Foreign Minister Héctor Béjar, an 85-year-old sociologist and ex-guerrilla, or Ciro Gálvez, a 72-year-old Quechuablante and indigenous notary. who will be Minister of Cultures.

"They are things of the past. That this Government does

not come close to gender parity

is something not seen in several decades. And I have the impression that a statist administration will land in which the State will be the beginning and the end of all social dynamics and politics. That's what we're seeing, "Venturo said.

Gender and minorities

The absence of women, on the one hand, and

Bellido's

homophobic comments

, on the other, clearly draw something that was already known: Castillo, whose origins are very conservative and religious, does not raise the issues of equity and discrimination as a priority.

In this regard, criticism has fallen on the role of the New Peru party, the progressive left led by former presidential candidate Verónika Mendoza, which has been

the only

prominent

political group

beyond Peru Libre to greet the Castillo government.

They have also contributed to Anahí Durand, a feminist sociologist very close to Mendoza who will be the Minister of Women, whose main task will be to defend within an overwhelmingly masculine and masculinized executive,

the tenuous advances

in gender policies that the country has had.

However, the first feminist voices and LGTBI activists have been

openly critical

and consider this Executive as a step back "of fifteen years."

Congress and the silver bullet

The questions towards the Executive are of such caliber that many see in him a deliberate strategy so that the Congress, dominated by an opposition that goes from the extreme right to the liberal center,

denies confidence and thus unleash a government crisis.

Congress can deny its trust to the full cabinet and

force its replacement

, but it can only do so twice in the five-year term.

If that happens, the Constitution enables the president

to dissolve the chamber and call new elections

, so burning this "silver bullet" just days after the start of the legislature is risky.

At the moment, Castillo has the support of his 37 deputies in Congress, the 5 from Juntos por el Perú (the coalition where New Peru is) and some deputies from the political center who currently

prevent the possibility of a

presidential

impeachment process

.

Congress does have the option of censoring ministers and forcing them out one at a time if it so wishes.

The author is a journalist for EFE

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