Peruvian President Pedro Castillo has announced the sack of his Prime Minister barely three days after appointing him, amid outrage over revelations he was once involved in a domestic violence scandal in 2016.
Speaking in a statement on Friday, the president said, ‘I have decided to recompose the cabinet,’ a clear indication that Prime Minister Hector Valer Pinto has been ousted.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that the leftist Castillo announced the change in a brief television address which was televised nationwide in which he did not mention Valer Pinto by name.
The opposition and even some cabinet ministers were up in arms about Valer Pinto’s continued presence in the government.
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When the president names a new cabinet, it will be his fourth since taking power six months ago.
Valer Pinto, 62, first came under pressure Thursday when newspapers reported that in 2016 his wife and university-age daughter reported him for domestic violence.
On Friday, before the president pushed him out, the speaker of congress urged the prime minister to resign.
Three ministers also challenged him, with Foreign Minister Cesar Landa writing on Twitter that “public service requires officials free of such accusations.”
Valer Pinto responded to the news reports by denying he was an “abuser” and said he was never convicted of domestic violence.
He insisted he would stay on in his job unless congress passed a no-confidence motion.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK