PERU: Under pressure from Congress, Defence Minister and Interior Minister resign over recent Shining Path clashes

Record ID: 342912

  • Title: PERU: Under pressure from Congress, Defence Minister and Interior Minister resign over recent Shining Path clashes
  • Date: 11th May 2012
  • Summary: LIMA, PERU (MAY 10, 2012) (REUTERS) ( ** BEWARE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **) DEFENCE MINISTRY EXTERIOR DEFENCE MINISTER ALBERTO OTAROLA ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PERUVIAN DEFENCE MINISTER ALBERTO OTAROLA SAYING: "I wanted to call you together to announce that I just handed in my resignation as Defence Minister to the Vice President of the Republic in charg
  • Embargoed: 26th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Peru
  • Country: Peru
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4TIX4P161LENMAVUDKMNZM0JJ
  • Story Text: Peru's defence and interior ministers resigned on Thursday (May 10) after clashes between armed forces and Shining Path rebels provoked public outcry, opening the door to further changes in President Ollanta Humala's five-month-old cabinet.
    "I wanted to call you together to announce that I just handed in my resignation as Defence Minister to the Vice President of the Republic in charge of the Presidential office, in a decision that I think will calm the political environment which is so unjustly tense and which has polarized the country," Defence Minister Alberto Otarola told a news conference.
    Members of Congress confirmed Interior Minister Daniel Lozada's resignation.
    Opposition lawmakers called for the resignations after nine soldiers and police were killed in recent weeks as combined forces seek to retake a lawless jungle valley where rebels captured and then released 36 natural gas workers last month.
    Otarola and Lozada had been summoned to appear before Congress on Saturday (May 11) and lawmakers said they already had enough votes to oust them.
    Congressman Alberto Beingolea applauded the moves, saying they would allow the country to move forward.
    "What the Peruvian citizenry was expecting took place: the resignation of the Interior Minister and the resignation of the Defence Minister. From that point of view, I should welcome these events which will allow us to overcome the political crisis that we are currently undergoing," he said.
    Humala, who had replaced most of his cabinet in December to reflect a tougher line on law and order following anti-mining protests in the rural North, was travelling to South Korea on a trip to promote investment in Peru's fast-growing economy.
    Congresswoman Martha Chavez criticized the president for failing to return to Lima.
    "It's a mechanism to resolve a crisis and perhaps nullify the (Congressional) censure, but I don't think it's a solution to the great problem of our country which is a crisis that derives, primarily, from the lack of presence of the president of the republic who should have been here during this internal crisis," she said.
    The Shining Path's Maoist founders were captured in the early 1990s, when Humala fought against them as an army officer in a conflict that killed 70,000 people, but small rebel units remain active and smuggling drugs in remote jungle regions.
    After the kidnapping resulted in bloodshed, a Shining Path leader known as Gabriel appeared on video saying the group had anticipated Humala's actions.
    "(We wanted) to get these reactionaries agitated so that they desperately send their forces and we annihilate them. That was our objective," he said.
    Prime Minister Oscar Valdes has said he would ask Humala to consider whether he should remain in his post if Congress removed the two ministers, although he said he would be willing to stay on.
    SENDERO LUMINOSO
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