Humala shuffles Peru Cabinet to calm anti-mining strife

24 July 2012 06:00 am - 0 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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President Ollanta Humala named the justice minister and well-known human rights lawyer, Juan Jimenez, as prime minister on Monday as the Peruvian leader shuffled his Cabinet to try to calm a wave of violent anti-mining protests.

Jimenez, 47, replaced Oscar Valdes, a former army officer who led a crackdown on protesters opposed to Newmont Mining's $5 billion Conga project in the northern region of Cajamarca that killed five people this month.

Humala reappointed Finance Minister Luis Miguel Castilla, a favorite of investors, and Mines and Energy Minister Jorge Merino, who oversees a $50 billion pipeline of investments in one of the world's top exporters of minerals.

A former soldier and hard-line leftist, Humala now defends foreign investment and has sought to push ahead with big mining projects in one of Latin America's fastest-growing economies.

But he has faced stiff resistance from poor rural communities left behind by a decade-long boom. The Cabinet overhaul marked the second time in his year-old term that widespread disputes over natural resources prompted the ouster of his prime minister.

Peruvian leaders often shuffle their Cabinets on July 28, Peruvian Independence Day, which will also mark the anniversary of Humala's first year in office. Humala's approval rating fell to a new low of 40 percent this month, according to an Ipsos poll.

"This will be a Cabinet of dialogue," Jimenez said in his first speech as prime minister. "We will move closer to the people. We will readdress the issue of social conflicts in Peru."

Humala, who took office vowing to cut the poverty rate from 30 percent by ramping up social spending and backing big business, brought in six new ministers to his 19-member Cabinet on Monday. He named Eda Rivas, who had been Jimenez's deputy in the Justice Ministry, as the new justice minister.

Wilfredo Pedraza, who used to run Peru's prisons, was named interior minister. Petro Cateriano, a lawyer, was put in charge of defense. Both will try to help Humala gain control over a remote bundle of valleys known as the VRAE that is rife with cocaine traffickers and remnant bands of Shining Path rebels in the globe's No. 1 grower of coca.

Jimenez emphasized the government would push hard to stop any rebirth of political groups linked to old Shining Path members.

NEED FOR CONSENSUS

Promoting Jimenez, who served as vice justice minister in the government that led Peru's transition to democracy in 2000, may help Humala overcome criticism that his government developed a militant, authoritarian streak under Valdes.

Leading members of Congress had called on Valdes to step down and say the government should emphasize mediation instead of force to solve environmental disputes.

But a Jimenez-led Cabinet may not pacify regional government leaders who have led anti-mining protests and say Humala has turned his back on the rural poor who voted for him by abandoning his leftist ideals and drifting to the right.

Jimenez backed Humala's decision to suspend civil liberties in Cajamarca, where human rights groups have sharply criticized the government's use of force.

Humala replaced half of his Cabinet in December, when he promoted Valdes from interior minister to prime minister as he sought to quell protests with a firmer, more law-and-order tone that irked the left.

"Humala needs to do more to unite Peruvians and clearly explain to people who voted from him why he has changed," said Santiago Pedraglio, a politics professor at Lima's Catholic University. "He has to avoid authoritarianism. He cannot become a polarizing force, but instead needs to try to forge consensus."

(Reporting By Marco Aquino, Teresa Cespedes, Patricia Velez and Caroline Stauffer; Writing by Terry Wade; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Peter Cooney)

(Source : Reuters)

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Humala shuffles Peru Cabinet to calm anti-mining strife

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