LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s newest president, Dina Boluarte, swore in a recent Cabinet Saturday just three days after becoming the country’s first female head of state, and asked each minister to pledge to not be corrupt while in office.
The 16 ministers picked by Boluarte, who on Wednesday was elevated from vice chairman to interchange the ousted Pedro Castillo because the country’s leader, can be key to further inflaming or calming a South American country experiencing a seemingly endemic political crisis.
Boluarte presented her government amid demonstrations across Peru calling for her resignation and the scheduling of general elections to interchange her and Congress.
Boluarte on Saturday asked each of the eight men and eight women to swear or promise to perform their duties “loyally and faithfully without committing acts of corruption.”
Fluent in Spanish and Quechua, Boluarte was elected as vice chairman on the presidential ticket that brought the center-left Castillo to power last 12 months. She was minister of development and social inclusion through the 17-month administration of Castillo, a rural schoolteacher with no previous political experience.
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Boluarte, 60, replaced Castillo after he stunned the country by ordering the dissolution of Congress, which in turn dismissed him for “everlasting moral incapacity.” He was arrested on charges of rebel. His failed move against the opposition-led Congress got here hours before lawmakers were set to start out a 3rd impeachment attempt against him.
Castillo cycled through greater than 70 Cabinet members during his administration. A few of them have been accused of wrongdoing.
Boluarte has said she needs to be allowed to carry the office for the remaining 3 1/2 years of his term. But protesters are demanding recent elections. A few of those demonstrating in favor of Castillo have called her a “traitor.”
On Saturday, several highways were still blocked by protesters calling for the closure of Congress, the resignation of Boluarte and recent elections.
“Congress has given us a kick and has mocked the favored vote,” said protester Mauro Sánchez in Lima, where police have used tear gas to finish demonstrations that began Wednesday. “Let’s take to the streets, let’s not let ourselves be governed by this mafia-like congress.”
Peru has had six presidents within the last six years, including three in a single week in 2020 when Congress flexed its impeachment powers.
The facility struggle within the country has continued because the Andes and its hundreds of small farms struggle to survive the worst drought in a half-century. Without rain, farmers can’t plant potatoes, and the dying grass can not sustain herds of sheep, alpacas, vicuñas and llamas.
The federal government also confirmed that up to now week, Peru has seen a fifth wave of COVID-19 infections. The country has recorded about 4.3 million infections and 217,000 deaths for the reason that pandemic began.
Boluarte lacks support in Congress. Like Castillo, she was kicked out in January of the far-left party with which the pair was elected as president and vice chairman.
Omar Coronel, political science professor on the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, said a vital variable for Boluarte’s government can be her ability to administer the waves of discontent and generate a coalition in Congress that may sustain her but that at the identical time “will not be aberrational for the left.”
Associated Press author Franklin Briceño contributed to this report.
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