Peru cabinet reshuffled for 4th time in six months

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo swore in the fourth Cabinet of his half-year in office Tuesday amid criticism of his poor previous choices for ministers and even calls by his rivals to step down.

Castillo named Aníbal Torres, his former justice minister, as the new prime minister. Torres has been in favour of sending former President Alberto Fujimori to a common prison to serve out his 25-year sentence instead of his current special prison. Amid an environmental disaster in Peru's capital following the mid-January spill of 11,900 barrels of oil into the Pacific Ocean, Castillo named nuclear physicist Modesto Montoya as environment minister. Castillo named Hernán Condori as his health minister amid a surge in cases of the Omicron COVID variant. Castillo took office on July 28, 2021.