Peru’s New Foreign Minister Pick Rankles Castillo’s Party
- Oscar Maurtua was announced as the replacement on Friday
- Peru Libre members say the diplomat is aligned with U.S.
Oscar Maurtua
Photographer: Ramon Espinosa/AP PhotoThis article is for subscribers only.
The appointment of an old-guard politician as Peru’s new foreign affairs minister has spurred discontent within President Pedro Castillo’s socialist Peru Libre party less than a month after the new government took power.
Oscar Maurtua, who held a foreign affairs minister post under President Alejandro Toledo in the 2000s, headed to the government palace on Friday to accept the role. A media scandal over statements made by the previous appointee, Hector Bejar, about the Peruvian navy and U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s involvement in terrorist acts, caused him to to resign last Tuesday.