Yesterday, President Pedro Castillo made a new change in his ministerial cabinet –the second so far in August – and appointed new ministers in the portfolios of Defense, Environment and Women and Vulnerable Populations. Although he insists on still keeping Geiner Alvarado by his side, current Minister of Transport and Communications (MTC) and investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office for criminal organization.
In a ceremony held in the Cáceres room of the Government Palace (announced only 20 minutes earlier), Castillo swore in Army General Richard Tineo Quispe as the new Defense Minister, replacing José Gavidia, who had already resigned. In the past week.
Before assuming as minister, Tineo had been working in the General Directorate of Policies and Regulation in Communications of the MTC.
But there were two other changes that were not planned. In the Environment portfolio, Castillo unexpectedly removed Modesto Montoya and placed former congressman Wilbert Rozas as his replacement.
Rozas, an agronomist by profession, essentially has experience in municipalities in Cusco. He was elected district mayor of Limatambo twice (1995 and 1998), and also provincial mayor of Anta twice (2002 and 2006).
In 2018, when he was already a congressman, the Judiciary requested his immunity be lifted for a case of alleged embezzlement in Anta.
Meanwhile, in Woman, Diana Miloslavich left and Claudia Dávila Moscoso entered in her place. The new minister had already worked in that portfolio between 2016 and 2017, when she was an advisor to the Vice Ministry of Vulnerable Populations.
Until last April, Dávila had been serving as director of Modernization and Institutional Development of the Ministry of the Interior, and throughout her career she also worked in the Ministries of Development and Social Inclusion and Justice.
Alvarado’s role
Despite requests from Congress for Geiner Alvarado’s departure, Castillo doesn’t flinch and –still– prefers to have him close. At the beginning of his government he was appointed Minister of Housing and now, in the last replacement, he was transferred to Transport.
Alvarado has been under investigation since August 10 – along with Castillo – for an alleged criminal organization, as a result of fraudulent public works tenders, such as the one detected in Anguía (Cajamarca) and which was directed to a front company of the Espino brothers.
For the Attorney General’s Office, Geiner Alvarado is nothing less than the ‘lieutenant’ of the criminal network headed by President Castillo.
“By order of the leader, (Alvarado) directs the public resources assigned to his portfolio, relying on extraordinary regulations for the execution of sanitation works and others to the municipalities, whose authorities have colluded in directing the tenders to companies and consortiums that they are used as a façade”, reads a tax document accessed by Peru21.
Yesterday, Alvarado went to the Prosecutor’s Office for the second time to give his statement. He remained inside for more than six hours and left without facing the journalists. However, already in a previous statement, he denied “having any link with a criminal organization.”
In Congress there are two interpellation motions that weigh against him, raised by Avanza País and Renovación Popular, which will be seen on August 29. They could be the first step to your censorship.
Keep in mind
- The Minister of Labor, Alejandro Salas, denied that yesterday in the session of the Council of Ministers the situation of Minister Alvarado had been addressed.
- “He has not been because he had a summons in the Prosecutor’s Office, he was not in the Council of Ministers (…) the continuation of a minister is always due to a matter (of trust) granted by the president,” he added.
