Peru’s Jeri swears in top cabinet members

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By Marco Aquino

LIMA (Reuters) -Peruvian President Jose Jeri swore in the first members of his cabinet on Tuesday, sending the most concrete signals yet about how he would govern after vaulting into power last week following his predecessor Dina Boluarte’s abrupt ouster.

Jeri swore in Ernesto Alvarez, the former head of Peru’s Constitutional Court, as his prime minister and head of the cabinet. Alvarez, 64, served as a magistrate on the court between 2007 and 2014, and presided over the body in 2012.

Denisse Miralles, a former deputy economy minister with a market-friendly reputation, was sworn in as economy minister while Jeri tapped veteran diplomat Hugo de Zela, a former ambassador to the U.S., to be his foreign minister.

Earlier on Tuesday, Jeri, 38, said he planned to announce a cabinet that would prioritize combating a surge in crime, widely considered Peru’s most pressing challenge.

To that end, the conservative new president swore in Vicente Tiburcio, a retired police general who led an anti-terrorism unit, to be interior minister, the main cabinet role overseeing domestic security.

Jeri’s transition government is set to run through July 2026, with elections scheduled for April. He is Peru’s seventh president in nine years.

Boluarte’s removal last week on grounds of “moral incapacity” occurred amid growing public anger over increased crime.

The anger fueled protests by young people, civil groups, and transport workers, who have been dealing with extortion and the murder of drivers by criminal gangs.

Boluarte left office with approval ratings that stood between 2% and 4%, among the world’s lowest.

An anti-government march planned under Boluarte was set to take place in the capital Lima on Wednesday afternoon.

(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Editing by Deepa Babington and Stephen Coates)