LIMA: Three days after becoming Peru's first female president, Dina Boluarte swore in her cabinet on Saturday and asked each minister to promise not to commit corruption while in office.
The 17 ministers chosen by Boluaarte, who was promoted from vice president on Wednesday to succeed Pedro Castillo as the country's leader, will play a key role in the South American nation facing an apparent endemic political crisis. Or not. or calm.
Amid nationwide protests calling for his resignation and calls for general elections to replace him and Congress, Boluaarte unveiled his centrist administration.
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Nine men and eight women were asked to take an oath or promise to fulfill their responsibilities "loyally and honestly without engaging in acts of corruption".
Each member of the cabinet bowed before him and wore a red and white armband around their waist. When the members of the cabinet answered Boluaarte's question, a life-size crucifix was placed in front of them.
Boluaarte, who speaks fluent Spanish and Quechua, won the vice presidential nomination on the presidential ticket that brought center-left Castillo to power last year.
During Castillo's 17-month presidency, he served as Minister of Development and Social Inclusion. Castillo was a rural schoolteacher with no prior political background.
Castillo, 60, was replaced by Boluaart after shocking the nation by calling for the dissolution of Congress, which fired him for "permanent moral incapacity".
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He was detained on suspicion of mutiny. Hours before lawmakers launched a third impeachment attempt against him, he made an unsuccessful move against the opposition-led Congress.
After the ceremony on Saturday, he gave a State of the Union speech promising Peruvians an inclusive government. He announced that his group would pursue social justice, economic revitalization for the nation, and "the path of progress".
According to Boluaarte, "I want to assure you that I have worked hard for unity and democratic consolidation (and) to form a ministerial cabinet that is at the level the country needs." "... a government of national unity will serve all Peruvians."
Over 70 different cabinet members were replaced during Castillo's presidency. Some of them have been charged with crimes.
According to Boluaarte, he should be allowed to serve in this position for the remaining three and a half years of his term. However, the protesters want new elections. Some of those who supported Castillo during rallies called him a "traitor".
Attorney Pedro Angulo, a prime minister-designated anti-corruption prosecutor, and Alberto Otarola, who previously served as defense minister, are members of Boluaarte's cabinet.
Additionally, he swore in Ana Gervasi and Alex Contreras as the respective ministers of economy and foreign affairs. In those organizations, they both held the position of First Deputy Minister.
He has not yet appointed a labor or transport minister.
Protesters seeking Castillo's custody tried to break into a police station in the Andean community on Saturday and broke its windows, according to state media, which broadcast video from inside the facility. According to a state-run news outlet, two police officers were detained by the protesters.
About 3,000 people participated in the demonstration in Andahuellas, which resulted in some injuries. The Associated Press was informed by Anthony Gutierrez, director of a nearby hospital, that 16 patients were being treated, one of whom was in critical condition.
In 2005, an uprising against then-president Alejandro Toledo took place in the isolated Andean town of Andahuallas.
Antouro Humala, a former army major, was given a 19-year prison sentence in connection with the rebellion. Humala, the brother of late President Ollanta Humala, urged Boluaarte to hold early elections.
"If the rightists think that with the departure of Pedro Castillo the crisis has been resolved, they are completely wrong. It has only gotten worse and has entered a new chapter," Anturo Humala told reporters in Lima on Saturday. Said to." Elections are the only thing that can reduce social pressure."
Meanwhile, protesters who blocked several highways continued to demand Boluarte's resignation, a shutdown of Congress, and new elections. About a thousand Castillo supporters gathered in Lima to demand his release.
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In Lima, where police used tear gas to quell protests that began on Wednesday, protester Mauro Sanchez said, "Congress has given us a kick and made a mockery of the popular vote." "Let's march on the streets, don't allow this mafia-like Congress to rule us."
In the past six years, Peru has had six presidents, including three in a week in 2020 when Congress exercised its impeachment powers.
As the Andes and its thousands of small farms struggle to survive the worst drought in fifty years, the power struggle in the nation has persisted. Farmers cannot plant potatoes without rain, and herds of sheep, alpacas, vicuas, and llamas cannot survive on the dying grass.
The government also declared that a fifth wave of COVID-19 infections hit Peru in the previous week. Since the pandemic started, the nation has seen about 4.3 million infections and 217,000 fatalities.
Congress is not behind Boluarte. She was expelled from the far-left party with which Castillo and she were elected president and vice president in January, just like Castillo.
An important factor for Boluarte's government will be her ability to control the tides of unrest and build a coalition in Congress that can support her but is also "not aberrational for the left," according to Omar Coronel, a political science professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.