Peru’s New President Requests That The Cabinet Take Anti-Corruption Vow

Three days after becoming the nation’s first female head of state, Dina Boluarte, Peru’s newest president, requested her new top team to take an anti-corruption oath as she swore in her cabinet.

The 16 ministers appointed by Ms. Boluarte, who was elevated from vice president to take over as the country’s leader on Wednesday after Pedro Castillo was dismissed, will be crucial to escalating or defusing a political crisis that appears to be pervasive in a South American nation.

Despite protests around Peru demanding her resignation and the convening of general elections to replace her and Congress, Ms. Boluarte presented her government.

On Saturday, she requested oaths or promises from each of the eight men and eight women to carry out their responsibilities “loyally and faithfully without committing acts of corruption”.

Ms. Boluarte, who speaks both Spanish and Quechua well, was chosen as vice president on the presidential ticket that catapulted Mr. Castillo, a center-left politician, to office last year.

During Mr. Castillo’s 17-month presidency, she served as minister of development and social inclusion. Mr. Castillo is a rural schoolteacher with no prior experience in politics.

After Mr. Castillo shocked the nation by ordering the dissolution of congress, which in turn removed him for “permanent moral incompetence,” Ms. Boluarte, 60, took over for him.

He was detained on suspicion of rebelling. He made an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the opposition-controlled congress just hours before lawmakers were about to launch their third impeachment campaign against him.

Over 70 different cabinet members changed throughout Mr. Castillo’s presidency. Some of them have been charged with crimes.

According to Ms. Boluarte, she ought to be permitted to continue serving in the position for the remaining three and a half years of his term. However, protesters want new elections. Some of the supporters of Castillo have referred to her as a “traitor.”

On Saturday, demonstrators were still blocking numerous major thoroughfares while demanding that Ms. Boluarte quit, that Congress be shut down and that new elections be held.

In the past six years, Peru has had six presidents, including three in one week in 2020 when congress exercised its impeachment powers. As the Andes and its thousands of tiny farmers battle to endure the worst drought in fifty years, the power struggle in the nation has persisted.

Farmers cannot cultivate potatoes in the absence of rain, and herds of sheep, alpacas, vicunas, and llamas cannot survive on the dying grass.

The ministry also declared that the sixth wave of Covid-19 infections hit Peru in the previous week. Since the pandemic started, the nation has seen around 4.3 million illnesses and 217,000 fatalities.

Additionally, Congress does not back Ms. Boluarte. She was expelled from the far-left party in January, along with Mr. Castillo, with whom they were elected president and vice president.