LIMA, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The Marxist-leaning Peru Libre party, which brought the leftist president to powerPedro Castillo, announced on Thursday that the government has turned towards "center-right" and that it will not support it in the opposition-dominated Congress.
Castillo, a primary school teacher whotook office at the end of July, shortly afterwards rejected political pressure and said that every day he cannot respond "to petty situations", without referring directly to the Peru Libre announcement.
The president reorganized his cabinet last week,replacing his prime minister extreme left and other ministers with more moderate officials.
Hechange encouraged financial markets, which have recovered strongly. On Thursday, the Peruvian currency rose 1.38%, to 3,920 soles per dollar, its fifth consecutive session on the rise and its best level since the day before Castillo took power, given a continued perception of a more measured cabinet.
The partial removal, with the entry of the moderate left-wing lawyer and former head of CongressMirtha Vasquez As prime minister, she hinted at a shift toward the center, after Castillo promised in his election campaign to raise taxes on the key mining sector and draft a new Constitution.
"There is an undeniable political turn by the government and its cabinet towards center-rightism, where the caviar representatives have increased, who benefit from foreign financing, business associations and the State itself," said a statement from Perú Libre released on Twitter by the founder and party leader,Vladimir Cerron.
"Perú Libre has not gone over to the opposition, it remains on the side of the people and is against the North American NGOs that have captured the cabinet," Cerrón, a declared admirer of the leftist governments of Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia, later said in a Tweet.
GOVERNANCE IN QUESTION
The split in his party is unlikely to be enough to torpedo the new cabinet, with a fragmented Congress generally favoring a more moderate team.
On a visit to supervise works in the Amazon region of San Martín, in the north of the country, Castillo seemed to respond in a speech to the statement released by Cerrón.
"We are not going to sell ourselves because of pettiness, here you don't have to go to the center, to the right, here the people rule and the people's money has to be invested for the people," he said. "With a tweet they think that the country is changed and that is not the case."
Peru Libre has 37 representatives in the unicameral Congress of 130 legislators. The right-wing and center-right parties, led by the conglomerate of former presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, make up an opposition majority.
The Marxist party, which nominated Castillo as a guest to win the country's presidency, also announced "expulsions" and a "recomposition of its bench" in Congress, after some legislators from the group related to the president showed their support for the change of the cabinet of ministers.
The political group said thatwill not give a vote of confidence to the cabinet "caviar", as left-wing progressives call it. "Not doing so would imply principled incoherence."
Vásquez, the prime minister who hopes to go to Congress on October 18 to seek approval for her cabinet by constitutional mandate, regretted the ruling party's announcement at a time - she said - when stability is required to face the pandemic and economic recovery. .
"I think we are getting involved in a series of processes that are not healthy, within political parties we should think again about what democracy means and what it is for, in the midst of this situation we must all collaborate in governability" said Vásquez, who has stated that changing the current Constitution is not a priority of the Government.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino; editing by Carlos Serrano and Ricardo Figueroa)
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