Aníbal Torres and his last days as premier: the possible replacements of the president of the council of ministers

The confrontational attitude that the president of the Council of Ministers, Aníbal Torres, has shown in several of his public interventions, since he took office on February 8 of this year, has generated rejection in a sector of the Congress of the Republic, which sees censorship as a possibility for the head of the PCM to leave the premierate. Are these Torres' last days as head of the PCM and who could be his replacement?

“HE'S IN HIS LAST DAYS”

On April 11, Congress President María del Carmen Alva noted that Aníbal Torres “is already in his last days.” Alva considered that the prime minister's criticism of Parliament about the error of including guinea fowl and pheasant as products of the basic family basket that would be exonerated the charges for IGV were to “divert attention” for the controversies of the premier's statements about Adolf Hitler.

“The premier is confrontational when he has to seek consensus, as he is in his last days, how he made statements about Hitler, whom he admires, shameful those statements, he wanted to divert attention,” he said.

In a not very different line, thinks Congressman Flor Pablo Medina, of the Morado Party, who filed a motion for interpellation against the president of the Council of Ministers to explain the reasons for the curfew imposed in Lima and Callao on 5 April, and the investigation of those killed in the protests over the stoppage of carriers.

The seats that signed the order were: Morado Party (3), Avanza Pais (6), Popular Action (4), Somos Peru (2), Alliance for Progress (2), Popular Force (2), Popular Renewal (1), Together for Peru (1) and Ungrouped (1, Carlos Anderson Ramírez).

Flor Pablo indicated that if the initiative is admitted and the Prime Minister's answers are not satisfied, a censorship will be promoted for Aníbal Torres to leave office.

“I hope that the interpellation will be given and if they do not satisfy the answers of the premier, to be able to proceed to a censorship. Not only is it the restriction of freedoms, there are also six deaths of compatriots,” he said in a dialogue with RPP TV.

It should be noted that the approval of a censure requires the vote of more than half the legal number of congressmen; that is, 66 out of 130. The departure of Aníbal Torres on this route is very likely.

REPLACEMENTS

Although it may be premature to talk about possible replacements and that President Pedro Castillo's decisions are sometimes unpredictable when it comes to choosing senior officials, it can be indicated what other people have been called as possible presidents of the Council of Ministers before Aníbal Torres takes office.

Someone who has always appeared as a possibility is Daniel Salaverry, who in March was appointed presidential adviser to the Advisory Committee of the Presidential Office. Salaverry began his career with APRA and then moved to Fuerza Popular, a party with which he became a congressman and president of the Legislative. In the last elections he ran for president in a formula with Martín Vizcarra. In addition, he supported Pedro Castillo in the second round of the elections.

Before Aníbal Torres was appointed as head of the PCM, another spokesperson was Jorge Nieto Montesino, former Minister of Defense in the government of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and who has been leading the Good Government political movement since 2019. Speaking to Epicentro TV, Nieto revealed that he had received a call from the government. “I have been invited to talk, naturally, I accepted the conversation. I'll have to find out what they want to talk about there,” he said.

The possible new prime minister could also leave the current cabinet, as happened with Aníbal Torres himself, who previously held the Justice portfolio. The ministers who seem most loyal and who have the most presence in the media are the Interior, Alfonso Chávarry Estrada, and the Minister of Culture, Alejandro Salas.

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