Peru: President Alejandro Toledo Shuffles Cabinet

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Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo has made major changes in his Cabinet, including the key economic and foreign policy posts. The unpopular president, whose approval rating in opinion polls is less than 16%, is experiencing a credibility crisis after failing to keep his campaign promises to create more jobs and improve living conditions for the country's poor majority.

Polls show the public is also dissatisfied with Toledo's economic policies, especially the privatization plans that led to deadly protests in June, and for his indecisiveness.

He also has been unable or unwilling to put to rest claims that he has a daughter whom he refuses to recognize. Last week, the Corte Suprema suspended an Aug. 7 hearing at which Toledo was to undergo a court-ordered DNA test for the paternity suit.

Cabinet unravels

The Cabinet shakeup began June 20 when Interior Minister Fernando Rospigliosi resigned following the violent protests in Arequipa against the privatization of two regional utility companies EGESUR and EGASA. Two people were killed in the rioting before the government agreed to halt the sale (see NotiSur, 2002-06-21).

Rospigliosi, a former journalist, had been considered one of the most important ministers in Toledo's Cabinet. He said he was resigning because he disagreed with Toledo's decision to declare a state of emergency during the protests. Two days …