The president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, and her first cabinet, this Saturday. SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA (REUTERS)
The president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, has appointed this Saturday a cabinet made up of medium-profile professionals who will have to overcome a difficult horizon.
Protests in a large number of regions and in the capital have been multiplying in recent days after Pedro Castillo's failed self-coup.
The protesters are calling for early general elections, a clamor that adds up to 87% of citizens, according to a survey by the Institute of Peruvian Studies at the end of November, when the then president was approaching his third attempt at a vote of no confidence.
Several of the members of the new government are career civil servants in public management, unlike the majority of ministers appointed by the rural teacher in the last 16 months.
Others are part of the quotas that represent the parliamentary opposition, with which the president has had to negotiate her attempt to stay in power.
Boluarte, the country's first female president, has sworn in 17 ministers, eight of whom are women - that is, it is almost equal, in contrast to Castillo's cabinets - and the appointment to the Labor and Transportation portfolios is pending. and Communications.
Among the appointments, the new Minister of the Environment, Albina Ruiz, stands out, an engineer who last decade led the approval process of a pioneering law in the region to regulate the activities of recyclers.
The new prime minister, Pedro Angulo, does not have a very prominent resume.
In the past decade, he was a member of the Executive Council of the Judiciary on behalf of the Lima Bar Association, and in that instance supported decisions of the today dismissed Supreme Judge César Hinostroza.
Judge Hinostroza is the main one investigated for leading a network of corruption in the justice system denounced by the press since 2018, called Cuellos Blancos del Puerto.
In a message broadcast on television almost an hour after the swearing-in ceremony, Boluarte has said that he worked "hard to form a cabinet for unity."
He also promised that his government works for economic justice and social justice.
He said that among his essential objectives is "the consolidation of democracy, the rule of law, the balance of powers and governability in the country."
The president has made a call for calm in the midst of the protests.
Although her intention is to govern until 2026, when she would conclude her current term, she said this Friday that she did not rule out an electoral advance.
“When the position was sworn in two days ago, it was done until 2026;
However, if society and if the situation warrants it, we advance the elections in conversation with the political and democratic forces of Congress, ”she said.
The president has assumed office in a country fed up with the corruption that has surrounded seven presidents since 2000 -except Valentín Paniagua and Francisco Sagasti-.
To the six prosecutorial investigations for corruption that the dismissed Castillo faces, are now added those of rebellion and conspiracy due to the self-coup on Wednesday.
That is why the oath that Boluarte used with each minister contained a phrase that was not part of the protocol until today.
"Do you swear by God and these holy gospels to carry out loyally and faithfully without committing acts of corruption the position of Minister of State that I entrust to you?"
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