Dina Boluarte appoints her former Defense Minister as the new head of Government in Peru

MADRID, 21 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The President of Peru, Dina Boluarte, has appointed this Wednesday the until now Minister of Defense, Alberto Otárola, as the new Prime Minister of the country in which he is already the second Cabinet of the Head of State in just two weeks after the dismissal and arrest of his predecessor, Pedro Castillo.

During a ceremony held at the Government Palace of Peru, Boluarte has also sworn in Víctor Rojas Herrera at the head of the Ministry of the Interior and replacing César Cervantes, as reported by the Andina news agency.

For his part, Jorge Luis Chávez Cresta will replace Otárola in a Defense portfolio that he already led for just three months, between August and November 2020, under the presidency of Martín Vizcarra.

Óscar Becerra assumes the Education portfolio, free since Patricia Correa presented her resignation last Friday due to her disagreement with the authorities' management of the mobilizations in the country, because of which more than twenty people have already died.

After Correa's resignation, Jair Pérez alleged the same reasons for resigning from the position at the head of Culture. Now Boluarte has appointed Leslie Urteaga, who previously held positions in the ministry, as the person in charge of leading it.

Likewise, Boluarte has ratified Ana Gervasi Díaz as Foreign Minister; Alonso Contreras in charge of Economy; José Tello as the person in charge of Justice and Human Rights work; Rosa Bertha Gutiérrez Palomino as Minister of Health; Nelly Paredes in charge of Agrarian Development; and Grecia Rojas in the Women's Ministry.

Eduardo García also continues to lead Labor and Employment Promotion; Sandra Belaunde in Production; Luis Helguero in charge of Foreign Trade and Tourism; Óscar Vera as manager of Energy and Mines; Paola Lazarte in Transport and Communications; Hania Pérez de Cuellar in charge of Housing; and Albina Ruiz in Environment.

Boluarte announced two days ago the dismissal of Pedro Angulo as head of government and announced the appointment of a new ministerial Cabinet since the previous one was "very technical" for the situation of social instability that the Andean nation is going through.

Thus, the Peruvian president already announced this week that the future head of government should have a markedly "political" character, as well as be able to "look sensitively at the needs of the people."

Peru has been the scene of political instability since the beginning of the term of former President Pedro Castillo, who was finally dismissed and arrested at the beginning of the month after announcing the dissolution of Parliament and the implementation of an emergency government.

That decision barely received support, with which the president ended up arrested by the Prosecutor's Office and accused by the Peruvian authorities of trying to carry out a kind of "coup d'état." The population has taken to the streets to protest the arrest of the former president.

The protesters also demand the departure of Boluarte from the Andean Presidency and the calling of new elections, the latter a demand that Congress has partly accepted, since this morning it announced the advancement of the presidential elections to April 2024.