Pedro Castillo's 50 Ministers: A Negative Balance in Eight Months of Government

It has been exactly 8 months since Pedro Castillo began to rule Peru. A constant throughout his Government had been political instability and constant changes of ministers. In figures, 50 ministers have been appointed to four questioned ministerial cabinets, but what does this tell us about Castillo and what can we expect from his government in the next four years?

One thing that many Peruvians agree on is that this government has been moving from crisis to crisis. For the lawyer and political analyst, Gustavo Romero, the president is a person who “has no north” and does not know where he wants to lead the country. This would be reflected in cabinet changes and the lack of firm policies.

“(The changes of the cabinet) has weakened him and what he has exposed is what he is: a person without a north and who calls people to pretend to defend him, when what he should do is call people to run a state. It is not calling to manage a State, but to manage private or partisan interests,” says the lawyer.

On the other hand, political scientist and socio-political analyst Andrea Paico considers that Pedro Castillo lacks leadership and political capital. “Who is Castillo Terrones?” , he wonders. Thus, he recalls that practically the rural teacher became known in the political sphere with the demonstration of teachers from Sutep and that his political capital during the campaign is thanks to Peru Libre. “And Peru Libre is thanks to Vladimir Cerrón,” he says.

“Castillo is paying favors. He alone like Pedro Castillo Terrones, like the rural professor, has no political capital. That is why there are also constant disputes between Pastillo, Cerrón and the cerronist wing of Peru Libre. He is paying favors and that is not something clearly of this government,” says the political scientist.

Who is the president listening to? One would assume that the basic answer is “to the Cabinet of Ministers” or at least “to the prime minister”. However, the changes and statements of former ministers show that what would be happening in the Government Palace is something much more complicated.

MINISTERS QUESTIONED

Among the number of ministers appointed in this government, there are also those who had to leave through the 'false door' after a series of complaints were discovered against them, such as the case of the former prime minister Hector Valer, which lasted only seven days.

Another big question to Castillo was the appointment of Guido Bellido as its premier. The fellow congressman from Peru Libre had an ongoing investigation for advocacy of terrorism and did not hesitate to make macho comments on his social networks.

- Hector Bejar: resigned for blaming the Navy for initiating terrorism in Peru

- Walter Ayala: investigated for the scandal of irregular rise of two colonels with an affinity for the government

- Iver Maraví: was censured by parliament for its links to terrorism

- Juan Silva: he left the government after being accused of integrating an alleged mafia into the MTC

- Ciro Galvez: he was Minister of Culture, criticized for his lack of experience and came out with the change of cabinet

- Luis Barranzuela: resigned from the position of Minister of the Interior after organizing a party in the midst of COVID-19 infections. Questioned because of their closeness to questionable characters.

- Carlos Gallardo: was censored after the scandal of leaking a test for teachers.

- José Luis Gavidia: he has reports of family violence, but remains in the position of Minister of Defence

- Ángel Yldelfonso: he is questioned by administrative proceedings against him and acquit a person accused of drug trafficking.

- Hector Conodori: Minister of Health who could be censored in the coming days. It is questioned by the illegal practice of medicine and incompatible negotiation, withdrawal of budget for campaigns in favor of COVID-19 vaccination, among others

- Katy Ugarte: was Minister for Women for a week, questioned by her macho comments. She was declared a prisoner contumaz

- Carlos Palacios: current Minister of Energy and Mines, confronted the MEF in wanting to pressure the Minister of Economy to support the questioned PetroPeru board.

In this regard, Gustavo Romero believes that in these eight months of office, a competent minister has not been appointed who has succeeded in appeasing the concern of the population or who is suitable for his office.

“I think they pretend to manage the resource for their own interests. That is why they are so interested in the Ministry of Transport, where they put a person from their environment such as Mr. Silva, because they can manage and allocate resources for personal projects or from which they can benefit. Then there are also the resources of the health sector. Obviously there is a closeness to Cerrón in all that,” he says.

The political scientist does highlight the presence of Pedro Francke in the Ministry of Economy and Avelino Guillén in the Ministry of the Interior.

“The departure of Francke and Guillén, for me, was decisive. If from the beginning we were already under constant attacks on the Government, the Government was already in a political siege, the departure of Francke and Guillén dynamited that. He left President Castillo without that little line of defense that he still had left, '” he said.

All ministries during Pedro Castillo's administration have had at least two changes, except for the Ministry of Commerce (Roberto Sánchez), Housing (Geiner Alvarado) and Development and Social Inclusion (Dina Boluarte), where the incumbents have held the same positions throughout these months.

On the other hand, the ministries with the greatest number of changes were: Interior (4 ministers), Energy and Mines (4 ministers), Chancellery (3 ministers), Defence (3 ministers), Education (3 ministers), Agriculture and Irrigation (3 ministers), Production (3 ministers), Women (3 ministers) ministers), Environment (3 ministers) and Culture (3 ministers).

The Ministries of Economy, Justice, Health, Labour and Transport and Communications have undergone the least change of headlines in this portfolio.

These variations call into question the government's progress in these eight months. The changes in the head of the sector mean a lack of continuity in public policies and the position of each ministry to the problems of the country, causing public officials who could manage to end up resigning, as in the case of officials in the Ministry of Health, following the appointment of Hernán Condori.

“Regardless of who governs, whether Castillo or not, these facts are not hidden, but are already so evident that it causes Castillo to lose the little support it had been given”, emphasizes Andrea Paico.

Gustavo Romero is more decisive: “There is no premier and there is no government, really. What there is is a regime, and that is the difference. People are not being governed, people are being put in ministerial positions and they are not administering a State. Every day there is greater misrule,” he says.

THERE IS NO PARITY

On the other hand, Pedro Castillo's government is characterized by the lack of parity in its cabinets. During the campaign, she was criticized for lacking a gender vision and even that some of her statements were discriminatory, which was considered serious by Andrea Paico, because Peru is one of the countries with the most cases of femicide and violence against women in the region.

“If we have benches such as Avanza Pais, Popular Renewal, Fuerza Popular, even Podemos that are conservative; that the representation of the State itself is, leaves you much to be desired. It leaves the entire women's sector unprotected because it is not given greater prominence or support”, says Paico

PRESIDENTIAL VACANCY

Both specialists agree that Pedro Castillo is solely responsible for being immersed in a new political crisis and being part of investigations for alleged corruption crimes in his short time in office. For Gustavo Romero, there is no doubt that he has committed crimes and believes that he should be removed from office as justice commands.

“I am one of those people who are convinced that not only does he have a moral disability, but that he does not know how to distinguish between good and bad. Even I am convinced that he has committed crimes,” he said.

Andrea Paico, for his part, points out that if Castillo wants to remain in government for the next few years, he must change his pattern.

“Castillo's purpose is still to be president, because that also means standing firm, starting to listen to the people he should listen to and cutting off all kinds of ill-intentioned influence at once. I would say that Castillo doesn't make it to July, being very pessimistic, if he continues with this same pattern,” he says.

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