New Peruvian Ministers

Press, 28 July 1986, Page 8

New Peruvian Ministers

NZPA-Reuter Lima Peru’s President, Mr Alan Garcia, swore in four new Ministers at the week-end, replacing a quarter of his Cabinet two days before the first anniversary of his social democratic Government.

Kneeling with their right hands placed on a copy of the Bible, the new Ministers of Justice, Labour, Navy, and Fisheries took the oath of office in the Presidential Palace.

The most politically sensitive post to change hands was Justice, which is responsible for 110 prisons housing about 15,000 inmates. The new Justice Minister, Mr Carlos Blancas, aged 39, succeeds Luis Gonzales Posada, who quit on June 30 in a contro-

versy over the quelling of prison riots at three Limaarea jails.

At least 156 inmates died in the military-led crushing of the riots by accused Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrillas on June 18 and 19.

Mr Gonzales Posada, aged 40, said the action had violated legal, religious, and humanitarian norms.

Mr Blancas, a lawyer who heads the Christian Democratic Party, is the only civilian member of the 17-man Cabinet not to belong to Mr Garcia’s American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (A.P.R.A.).

The other new Ministers sworn in were Orestes Rodriguez

(Labour), Javier Labarthe (Fisheries), and Vice-Ad-miral Willy Harm (Navy). With his new Cabinet Mr Garcia, aged 37, will mark the A.P.R.A.’s first year in power tomorrow with a state of the nation speech in Congress.