From Lima
Under pressure from the opposition Congress and the hegemonic press, and amid internal disagreements between members of the government, the president Pedro Castillo decided to change his ministerial cabinet. He announced it on Wednesday afternoon in a brief message to the country. The first cabinet of the Castillo government, which was headed by Guido Bellido, falls after only little more than two months of management. The president pointed out that he was changing his cabinet to favor “governability.” The opposition applauded Castillo’s decision. On the contrary, in the leadership of the ruling party Free Peru (PL), of which Bellido is a congressman and leader, the departure of his main file in a government in which different sectors of the left coexist did not go down well. In the ruling party they spoke of “betrayal” for this change.
As the new head of the ministerial cabinet, the former legislator was sworn in on Wednesday night Mirtha Vasquez, a lawyer and leftist politician who was president of Congress. He is not a PL member. Vásquez assumed the presidency of Congress in the midst of the serious political crisis of November 2020, when the country had three presidents in a week, and held that position until the end of the transitional government of Francisco Sagasti, last July. As president of the Congress, she had a dialoguing and conciliatory demeanor, and showed political ability to manage a divided and complicated Parliament.
“Historical memory”
Seven ministers were changed and twelve were ratified. In addition to the cabinet leadership, the changes occurred in the Interior, Education, Labor, Energy and Mines, Production and Culture. A significant appointment has been that of Gisela Ortiz in Culture. Ortiz is the sister of one of the La Cantuta University students assassinated by the government of Alberto Fujimori, one of the cases for which the former dictator has been sentenced to 25 years. He swore by “historical memory.” Although it is not a parity cabinet, the representation of women rises from two to five, and a woman heads the cabinet.
The ministerial crisis occurs in a context of extreme tension between the Executive and Congress, when the right-wing unicameral Parliament was preparing to censor the Minister of Labor in the coming days, Iber Maraví, one of those changed, for which they had already secured the necessary votes, and the opposition had raised the tone of its demands for Bellido’s departure. The most extremist sectors, led by Fujimori, embarked on coup maneuvers, had threatened a possible dismissal of Castillo if Bellido, whom they accuse of being a “radical leftist”, continued in office.
Bellido in the sights
The management of Bellido, a congressman and leader of PL, has been harshly criticized by the parliamentary right and the media, but it had also been questioned by sectors of the government itself for statements that collided with what was said by the president and other ministers, and that more at once they put the government in trouble. The latest was his announcement a few days ago of the nationalization of gas, which Castillo, who had recently denied any possible nationalization, had to deny. In Bellido’s liabilities, past macho and homophobic statements were added.
Before Castillo, Bellido, PL’s main letter in the Executive, responded to PL’s secretary general, Vladimir Cerrón, which is fighting to expand its share of power in the government and to radicalize Castillo’s presidency. In addition to PL, the other sectors of the government are allies of other left-wing parties summoned by the president and the group of teachers’ leaders very close to Professor Castillo, sectors that Bellido and Cerrón have been hitting. The cabinet change strengthens Castillo’s alliances with various progressive sectors and weakens PL within the Executive.
“Treason”
The secretary general of PL did not hide his discomfort at the departure of his main file in the government, he came out to support the defenestrated Bellido. Before meeting the new ministers, Cerrón demanded that the president get rid of his allies from other sectors of the left and concentrate all power in PL. The appointment of the new cabinet did not meet that demand. It includes allies from other sectors of the left and, to the outrage of the Cerronista sector of the ruling party, a PL legislator who is notoriously opposed to Cerrón, Betsy Chávez, who takes over Labor. Cerrón’s brother, Waldemar, a spokesman for the ruling party, reacted by announcing that they will not support the new cabinet. “It is a betrayal,” he said. Nevertheless, Cerrón does not control the entire government bench, of 37 seats out of a total of 130. Castillo has reassured the opposition, which gives him some air, but now a sector of the ruling party is threatening to go over to the opposition.
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