The president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, swore in on Tuesday a new cabinet headed by Justice Minister Aníbal Torres, the fourth in the six months he has been in office. The previous prime minister, Héctor Valer, resigned just three days after being appointed amid allegations of family violence.
Since Pedro Castillo took office as president of Peru in July 2021, there are already four cabinets that the president has appointed, in the midst of tumultuous months marked by multiple resignations from Executive positions.
Although Castillo has not offered further details about the members of the cabinet, it is known that Aníbal Torres, until now at the head of the Ministry of Justice and one of the few cabinet members who has remained close to the president since he took office, will be the one who heads this new Executive.
Castillo reported that on Wednesday, February 9, the first meeting of the new Council of Ministers will be held.
The president assured on Monday that he had a “firm commitment” to “provide solutions to Peru’s great problems” and reiterated that his new cabinet will be “more participatory and broad-based to promote greater benefit for all Peruvians.”
Valer’s resignation amid allegations of family violence
The new cabinet had to be formed after the resignation presented by the former prime minister, Héctor Valer, who lasted only 3 days in office and who had also been appointed urgently after the resignation of his predecessor, Mirtha Vásquez, followed by the resignation days ago of the former Minister of the Interior, Avelino Guillén.
Valer’s appointment had unleashed protests because the politician, still a member of Congress, is weighed down by accusations of alleged family violence, accusations that Valer denies and assures were made “only with the intention of doing harm.”
However, on Saturday Valer said he accepted “his defeat” and reported that he was putting his position at the disposal of the president. Now Castillo, in his brief term, has already accumulated several crises that have led the opposition to press for his resignation under penalty of a motion to dismiss him.
Resignation request against the president
The president’s resignation requests have been joined by the ombudsman, Walter Gutiérrez, who rejected the possibility of assuming any position in the current Executive and accused Castillo of not respecting the “minimum standards of integrity” to choose his collaborators.
For its part, the government has expressed the president’s refusal to resign. The Minister of Health, Hernando Cevallos, said this February 8 that the possibility of the president leaving office is “absolutely ruled out” and assured that he was elected for the 2021-2026 government period.
