MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

New cabinet in Peru must restore “confidence and optimism”

Velasquez is a respected parliamentarian and man of dialogue but challenges are steep.

Peruvian President Alan Garcia appointed Saturday Congress President Javier Velasquez as cabinet chief and shuffled his cabinet a month after protests against logging and oil concessions turned deadly.

Velasquez Quesquén, 49, a four-term congressman, is Garcia’s third cabinet chief since October. He replaces Yehude Simon, who was ousted after clashes June 5 in the country’s northern Amazon jungle between indigenous protesters and police resulted in the deaths of at least 50 people.

“The country now wants law and order and social inclusion, and I am convinced that Velasquez Quesquén cabinet will accomplish those objectives returning confidence and optimism to the country”, said García before taking the oath to the new PM.

Garcia added that his administration begun with “the cabinet of Jorge del Castillo, and proposals of growth, austerity; the second cabinet of Yehude Simon had as goals anticorruption and reducing poverty”.

“I’m hopeful that the incoming Primer Minister with patience and confidence will continue the path of his predecessors in the search for social reforms for Peru”, underlined the president. “I trust this will be my last cabinet, to spur the reforms the country needs to ensure continued growth.”

The announcement of the naming of Velasquez, as cabinet chief to replace Yehude Simon was done by Interior minister Mercedes Cabanillas early Saturday.

“With Velasq1uez a new page begins at the presidency of the ministerial cabinet”, said Cabanillas. “He has experience, dialogue capacity which he has amply shown in Congress” she added.

Beginning in early April, protesters blocked roads and oil and natural-gas installations, seeking to overturn laws that sought to award more concessions in the Peruvian Amazon to loggers and oil companies. The clashes forced Garcia’s 17-member cabinet to tender their resignations and Congress to repeal two of the laws on June 18.

Garcia, whose five-year mandate expires in July 2011, also changed trade, production, agriculture, defence, interior, justice and labour ministers.

Garcia kept Finance Minister Luis Carranza and Energy Minister Pedro Sanchez. Former Foreign Trade Minister Mercedes Araoz, who negotiated free-trade agreements with the U.S., Canada and China, was named minister of production.

Peru with President Garcia has performed well: BBB long-term foreign and local currency sovereign ratings are stable and firmly supported by the country’s sound macroeconomic policies, low debt burden and strong economic growth potential.

However his administration faces serious social unrest and labour conflicts which triggered strikes, pickets in highways and rallies which paralyzed traffic in most Peruvian cities.

The opposition, unions and even the Church claim the accumulated wealth of these last years has not trickled to the majority of the Peruvian population, half of which still live in poverty conditions.