Status: 08/04/2022 03:42 a.m
Peruvian Prime Minister Torres has handed in his resignation, plunging the South American country even deeper into a political crisis.
Peru’s Prime Minister Aníbal Torres has tendered his resignation amid the country’s political crisis. In a letter to President Pedro Castillo that Torres posted on Twitter, he said he was resigning for “personal reasons.” Castillo can accept or reject the resignation request, but has not yet commented.
Torres had been in office since February – and the fourth prime minister under Castillo, who became Peru’s head of state at the end of July 2021. Previously, Torres was justice minister in Castillo’s cabinet.
Constant turmoil in the first year in office
In the presidential campaign, Castillo had started with promises to improve education and health care and to fight corruption. When the trained rural teacher won the election, it shook Peru’s political establishment.
But Castillo’s first year in office was overshadowed by near-constant riots: Congress has twice attempted to remove the president from office. And there were several changes in his cabinet, which critics interpret as a sign of weakness in leadership. The president is also being investigated in five cases, including allegations of corruption and plagiarism in connection with his own master’s thesis.
Torres, who is willing to resign, has always defended Castillo. The Prime Minister criticized the reporting on the head of state and explained that his opponents belonged to the “upper class and the right and ultra-right”. Those who accused Castillo were “the real thieves who stole billions” from Peru, Torres had said.