Feature, Politics

President Vizcarra swears in four ministers in new cabinet shuffle

President Vizcarra swears in four ministers in new cabinet shuffle
President Vizcarra and Premier Vicente Zeballos, center, with the new ministers (l. to r.) Fernando Castañeda in Justice and Human Rights, Susana Vilca in Energy and Mines, Martin Benavides in Education, and Carlos Lozada in Transport and Communications. Source: Andina

President Vizcarra swore in four new cabinet ministers Thursday evening, the fourth cabinet shuffle since the President closed Congress five months ago, in September 2019.  There have been 32 changes of minister since Vizcarra took office in March 2018.

The new cabinet members succeed the ministers of Justice and of Energy and Mines, who resigned Wednesday, and of the ministers of Transport and of Education, who resigned early Thursday.

The sudden changes come as a result of the Executive’s sensitivity to any semblance of corruption within the government. Vizcarra’s main concern is to push through fundamental political and justice reforms in the new Congress that will in future help prevent the corruption that dominated the 2016-2019 Congress and continues in key areas of the justice system.

There is no explanation as yet for the resignation of the minister of Education, Flor Pablo, but the minister of Transport, Edmer Trujillo, a close ally of Vizcarra, has resigned to distance the Executive from a renewed investigation into Trujillo’s work several years ago related to hospital construction in the Moquegua region.

The resignation of Justice minister Ana Teresa Revilla and the minister of Energy and Mines, Juan Carlos Liu, appeared to be related to sharp criticism by the opposition of negotiations carried out by state prosecutor Jorge Ramirez with the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht to secure favorable conditions in civil reparations. While Odebrecht’s officers in Brazil are cooperating with the Peruvian justice system, providing details of bribes and campaign funding the company made in Peru, the company is also planning to file a claim against Peru with ICSID, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, to recover investments. Both ministers, as indeed the Premier and the President, were aware of Ramirez’ efforts.

However, Premier Vicente Zeballos on RPP radio on Friday morning denied that the resignations were in any way related to the Odebrecht negotiations. “They had already been planned,” he said.

Odebrecht invested some 30% of its budget to build the south gas pipeline, Gasoducto del Sur, before its bribery and illicit funding scandal blew up worldwide and the project was suspended.   The company’s assets, held by the Peruvian government, include 1000 km of pipeline, much of which is installed, and for which the Peruvian government is spending $40 million a year in maintenance.

Former state prosecutor Jorge Ramirez
Former state prosecutor Jorge Ramirez

Knowing of Odebrecht’s intention to file a claim with ICSID, the prosecutor in the Peruvian Lava Jato investigation team, Jorge Ramirez, suggested negotiating with Odebrecht to ensure that Peru would still obtain favorable civil reparations from the firm.

Ramirez went through the standard channels, speaking to Justice minister Revilla and asking Energy and Mines minister Liu, who had at one time been a consultant to Odebrecht, to help him bring Odebrecht to the table.   This week he filed a brief report with the new Prosecutor General, Daniel Soria, who fired him the following morning — Ramirez found out he had been fired when a friend texted a message saying the resolution had been published in the official gazette, El Peruano.  Soria, in a press conference, offered no reason for the firing other than the decision was to strengthen the team.

Legal experts disagree on whether Ramirez’ negotiations were appropriate or not.

The Lava Jato investigation team led by its coordinator Rafael Vela held a press conference and issued a statement in support of Ramirez and his work in the investigation.

As Odebrecht officers continue to reveal details on the political campaign funds and bribes they generously spread out among more than 700 people in Peru over more than 10 years, President Vizcarra and the Lava Jato team face threats and increasingly harsh criticism from politicians, business leaders and key figures in the judiciary doing the rounds of TV and radio interviews.

It’s not surprising.  The Odebrecht investigation has led to the preventive custody of former presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori and several of her party members and supporters, former mayor Susana Villaran, and to confessions related to Keiko Fujimori by Credicorp’s chairman, Dionisio Romero Pauletti (who funded her 2011 campaign with $3.65 million in cash), as well as the confession by the two chief officers of the Graña y Montero infrastructure firm of working with Odebrecht’s bribery scams. The two executives have resigned from GyM and divested their shares and the company, which is in the process of changing its name, has now turned state witness.

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