President Pedro Castillo reached the figure of 70 ministers appointed in one year and two months of management in Peru. On Monday night, September 12, he decided to make two changes within his cabinet by appointing the new foreign minister, César Landa, and the head of the Agriculture portfolio, Jenny Ocampo. Both arrive in the midst of crisis in their respective sectors.
Landa was in charge of Foreign Affairs until August 6 last. The former president of the Constitutional Court was replaced in office by the internationalist Miguel Rodríguez Mackay. In the short period of his successor, the ambassadors Manuel Rodríguez Cuadros and Harold Forsyth resigned from their positions as permanent representatives of Peru before the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS), respectively.
In addition, Rodríguez Mackay had discrepancies with President Castillo for being against signing the Escazú Agreement and recognizing the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. The last thing that triggered his departure from the Government was that he insisted on signing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Convemar), which was approved in April 1982 and entered into force in 1994, after being ratified by 60 countries. . Peru has been one of those that has not ratified it.
“We are respectful of the Constitution and we have to continue defending every last millimeter of sea and national territory that we have. There has been some information that we are correcting,” Castillo said in response to the chancellor’s intentions to join the Convemar.
Before Landa’s return and Rodríguez Mackay’s departure, the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had sociologist Héctor Bejar and ambassador Oscar Maurtua de Romaña as heads. These days, it should be noted that Congress will decide whether or not to grant Castillo permission to travel to New York to participate in the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The president plans to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts in the region and have a meeting with Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
fertilizer crisis
For his part, the other change in Castillo took place in the Agriculture portfolio. Last Saturday, the then Minister Andrés Alencastre announced that the third process to acquire fertilizers was cancelled. Since November of last year, Peru has been unable to buy urea for farmers who have had to reduce their production of food that is distributed in supply centers in Lima and other regions of the country.
The situation is aggravated by the high demand and the increase in prices of this fertilizer.
Alencastre arrived at the Ministry of Agriculture to solve this problem after two fertilizer acquisition processes that were frustrated by observations made by the Comptroller General due to irregularities presented by the bidding companies. Having also failed, various agrarian unions requested Alencastre’s departure in recent days and announced a regional strike.
In addition, an interpellation against Alencastre was promoted in Congress. To avoid future censorship, Castillo decided to replace him with Jenny Ocampo, an official who worked in the Ministry of Production. She has been a consultant at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for two years.
constant instability
In dialogue with the voice of america, the political scientist José Carlos Requena maintained that the two new changes within the Castillo government show that it is “very erratic.” “It is a very erratic government, the fact of having so many officials in different positions and of being involved in tax investigations, reinforces that a lot of damage is being done to the little progress that had been made in the country,” he indicates.
“Castillo’s word is highly undervalued because he has repeatedly shown a spirit of lack of amendment,” he added. The specialist maintains that he observes, increasingly distant, the possibility that the leftist president will turn the helm in his administration that should end in July 2026.
The prosecution is investigating Castillo for the irregular promotions in the Armed Forces and the National Police in November of last year. Also for an alleged favoring of a company to achieve a contract with the Peruvian state oil company and for the alleged plagiarism in his master’s thesis. Another ongoing investigation refers to the bidding for a bridge in the country’s jungle.
More recently, Castillo faces two other investigations for an “alleged cover-up” to avoid catching fugitives from his government and for leading a criminal organization that sought to direct public works tenders.
Despite the political and judicial instability, recent surveys by Ipsos and the Institute of Peruvian Studies reveal that Castillo’s approval increased and is close to 25%. While the opposition in Congress only has 6% of citizen support.
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