Peru: Cabinet crisis

PERU - In Brief 14 May 2025 by Alfredo Thorne

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Under pressure from Congress, last night President Dina Boluarte sacked two ministers, the highly respected Finance Minister, José Salardi, and the Interior Minister, Julio Diaz. Apparently, she was looking for support from political groups to avoid an impeachment of her loyal Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzen. However, after counting the votes, she realized that political groups would insist and at that time they had 78 votes, more than the 66 needed. This prompted Adrianzen's resignation last night. A few minutes ago, she decided to promote her Justice Minister, Eduardo Arana, to the Prime Minister's Office. He is a well-regarded lawyer, with experience in civil service and had been an advisor in Congress. Apparently, Fuerza Popular, Keiko Fujimori’s party, had granted their support. As Finance Minister, Raul Perez Reyes was appointed. He had been Transport and Communications Minister. In his place was appointed Cesar Sandoval Pozo, a militant from Alianza para el Progreso (APP), Cesar Acuña’s party; and at the Interior Ministry Carlos Malaver was appointed. He had been a retired general for the National Police. Most surprising was Salardi’s sacking; according to many, he had been performing well. He was controlling expenditure, had announced a mayor deregulation shock, had promoted private investment by reforming the Public Private Partnerships (PPP), and had reached out to entrepreneurial associations. However, many political allies of President Boluarte had complained that he had been tightening expenditure, and also that he had leaked President Boluarte’s more-than-100% salary increase proposal. The key question is if this is a preamble to Dina’s impeachment. It i...