Marco Aquino and Marcelo Rocharun

LIMA, Reuters – Peru’s President Pedro Castillo swore Mirtha Vaquez as prime minister Wednesday. This replaces her predecessor, Mirtha Vasquez (left-wing ex-head of Congress), who resigned in February after only two months.

Castillo remains on the right side of the political spectrum as he is a Marxist/Leninist Party member. However, it modifies his entire cabinet. Castillo kept center-left Economy Minister Pedro Francke in the role, and named a new energy & mines minister, Eduardo Gonzalez Toro.

Peru is second in the world for mining after Chile. Castillo stated that he would like to see more tax revenue in the mining sector for social programs.

Guido Bellido (former Prime Minister) was not widely known before he assumed the position. But his breezy style rattled Congress and investors worried about the leftist government.

Vasquez was the new prime minister and served between 2020-2021 as president of Congress. A lawyer, she defended Maxima Acuna (a peasant farmer) in a well-known case against her. Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:) Yanacocha, a gold mine in Yanacocha that made headlines across the globe.

Bellido posted an image of himself fighting in the film “Gladiator” on Twitter after his resignation announcement. This was a hint that Castillo may face some challenges.

Bellido was a Marxist-Leninist Free Peru member, like Castillo. However, he is seen as more far-left than the pragmatic Castillo.

Vasquez does not belong to Free Peru. He is a member the left-wing Broad Front. This group has been a major issue in environmental issues.

The news will likely be reacted to by the financial markets on Thursday. Bellido’s late-July appointment triggered an increase in bond spreads, which in turn weakened the local currency. Through the last quarter, the sol fell by close to 7 percent and ended Wednesday at a record low of 0.77% against U.S. dollars.

Maria del Carmen Alva is President of Congress and a member right-wing Accion Pop. She stated on Twitter (NYSE 🙂 that she supports Castillo’s choice to replace Bellido.

Bellido has spoken out about Peru’s nationalization in recent weeks. This was discussed by an openly-speaking consortium headed by Argentina’s Pluspetrol.

Also, Iver Maravi was the defense minister for labor, after he had been question by Congress during a formal hearing about allegedly being part of a Maoist rebellion in his youth.

Bellido stated that he would submit the whole cabinet to a confidence vote in case Congress attempted to censure Maravi.