MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peruvian PM to step down; opens door for a cabinet reshuffle

The aftermath of the Amazonia deadly clashes and global crisis challenge President Garcia.

Peruvian Prime Minister Yehude Simon said on Friday he planned to “irrevocably” step down next week following heavy criticism of the government's handling of violent Amazon protests in which at least 50 people died last month.

It was the first time premier Yehude Simon put a date on his resignation, which was first announced in mid-June after the bloodshed set off the biggest political crisis faced by President Alan Garcia since he took office in 2006.

Indigenous protesters and police died in the clashes, which flared during demonstrations against government plans for large-scale forestry and energy projects in the Peruvian Amazonia.

Human rights groups say dozens of protesters were killed or are missing and have not been accounted for in the official government death toll.

Opposition parties blamed Simon for the violence and had called for him to quit, but they failed to muster the necessary support this week in Congress when it voted on the prime minister's ouster. President García praised the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Mercedes Cabanillas and gave them his full support.

“I hope to leave next week, but before I will give a report to the press”, said Simon who added he “I feel I am a Peruvian who has done his duty and I am profoundly grateful to President García for having given me the opportunity”.

Simon who was appointed in October after a corruption scandal led to a major ministerial reshuffle in the nineties spent eight years in jail supposedly for having links with one of the country’s most notorious guerrilla groups.

His resignation forces the entire cabinet to offer to step down, but Garcia is not expected to replace heads of key ministries such as the Finance Ministry.

Garcia, whose approval rating is about 30%, is under pressure to build support for his investor-friendly policies, which critics say have not done enough to lift incomes in a country where 36 percent of the population lives in poverty.

He has not yet indicated who he will pick to replace Simon, although it is common for presidents to change ministers in late July around Peruvian Independence Day.

As Peru's once-booming economy eases along with with the global downturn, workers and indigenous groups are demanding higher wages and more say in policy-making.

Pollster Ipsos Apoyo said the latest national poll found out that support for Garcia ebbed in good part due to the perception that the government has mismanaged its response to the demands made by indigenous peoples.

”The rest of his term will be complicated, with rough waters. He will likely be like (former President Alejandro) Toledo, who had low ratings for his last two years” said Guillermo Loli, executive coordinator with Ipsos Apoyo.