PanamaTimes

Sunday, Jul 06, 2025

Peru Prime minister Anibal Torres resigns

Peru Prime minister Anibal Torres resigns

The Civil Defense Directorate has urged the public to take utmost vigil and caution while venturing out during rain amid a forecast of moderate to heavy rain likely to hit many parts of the Kingdom from Wednesday until Sunday.

Peru’s Prime Minister Anibal Torres has resigned, amid a widening criminal investigation focused on the nation’s president, President Pedro Castillo, who has grown increasingly isolated after one year in office.

Torres, a lawyer and one of Castillo’s most loyal allies, said in a letter shared on social media on Wednesday that he was resigning due to “personal reasons”.

“I am withdrawing from office after having served our homeland and its most neglected and its forgotten people, together with you.” he wrote in the resignation letter addressed to Castillo.

“Today I have to return to the university classrooms with my students, and take up what I missed the most: legal research.”

Castillo, who took office a year ago, has overseen unprecedented turnover in senior government posts during his administration. He will now have to name his fifth prime minister since taking office last July, a move that often comes with other changes to the cabinet.




The president is also the target of five criminal investigations, including two that are probing whether he is part of a “criminal organisation”. According to Peruvian law, presidents can be investigated while in office, but cannot be charged.

Castillo’s critics have seized on news of the prime minister’s resignation.

“It gives the impression that he is exhausted politically and physically; and he no longer even wants to continue in office,” Jorge Montoya, the leader of the ultra-conservative Popular Renewal party, told local news outlet RPP Noticias.

Castillo, 52, came to power last year with a Marxist-Leninist party, initially causing panic among investors, but he has since taken a pragmatic moderate turn, keeping the key economy ministry in the hands of a technocrat.

He had campaigned with the slogan “no more poor in a rich country”. He promised to fight corruption, raise taxes on mining profits, rewrite the constitution and end alleged monopolies that affect the prices of domestic gas and medicine.

But he was met by a Congress that analysts say has been eager to continue the political squabbling that has seen prior presidents and lawmakers seek to cut short each other’s terms.

In 2019, then-President Martin Vizcarra dissolved Congress and called legislative elections. The following year, the new Congress removed Vizcarra. Manuel Merino was appointed as president by Congress but resigned less than a week later following deadly protests. He was succeeded by Francisco Sagasti, who after nine months handed the post to Castillo on July 28, 2021.

In his resignation letter, Prime Minister Anibal Torres (right), who is a lawyer, said that he wanted to focus on teaching and legal research


On two occasions, lawmakers also tried to dismiss Castillo for purported moral incapacity but did not reach the necessary 87 votes to move forward.

Congress also has shelved Castillo’s proposed steps for constitutional reform. But the president himself has not introduced a detailed agricultural overhaul that was among his top campaign promises.

Castillo’s popularity has plummeted. Only about 19 percent of Peruvians approve of the job being done by Castillo, who defeated Keiko Fujimori in the runoff by about 44,000 votes. But that is higher than the 12 percent rating for Congress, according to polls by the Institute of Peruvian Studies.

Meanwhile, according to local media, once Castillo accepts Torres’s resignation, he will have to appoint his replacement, who will then be charged with naming a new cabinet. According to Peruvian law, if the president accepts the prime minister’s resignation, he must appoint his replacement within 30 days.

Torres has yet to address the resignation or say when he will name a replacement.

Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
OpenAI Secures Multimillion-Dollar AI Contracts with Pentagon, India, and Grab
Brazilian Congress Rejects Lula's Proposed Tax Increase on Financial Transactions
Landslide in Bello, Colombia, Results in Multiple Casualties
Papa Johns pizza surge near the Pentagon tipped off social media before Trump's decisive Iran strike
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
Minnesota Lawmaker Melissa Hortman and Husband Killed in Targeted Attack; Senator John Hoffman and Wife Injured
Wreck of $17 Billion San José Galleon Identified Off Colombia After 300 Years
Sole Survivor of Air India Crash Recounts Escape
Coinbase CEO Warns Bitcoin Could Supplant US Dollar Amid Mounting National Debt
UK and EU Reach Agreement on Gibraltar's Schengen Integration
Israeli Finance Minister Imposes Banking Penalties on Palestinians
U.S. Inflation Rises to 2.4% in May Amid Trade Tensions
Trump's Policies Prompt Decline in Chinese Student Enrollment in U.S.
Global Oceans Near Record Temperatures as CO₂ Levels Climb
Trump Announces U.S.-China Trade Deal Covering Rare Earths
Smuggled U.S. Fuel Funds Mexican Cartels Amid Crackdown
Protests Erupt in Los Angeles with Symbolic Flag Burning
Trump Administration Issues New Travel Ban Targeting 12 Countries
Man Group Mandates Full-Time Office Return for Quantitative Analysts
JPMorgan Warns Analysts Against Accepting Future-Dated Job Offers
Builder.ai Faces Legal Scrutiny Amid Financial Misreporting Allegations
Japan Grapples with Rice Shortage Amid Soaring Prices
Goldman Sachs Reduces Risk Exposure Amid Market Volatility
HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker to Return to AIA as Non-Executive Chair
Israel Confirms Arming Gaza Clan to Counter Hamas Influence
Judge Blocks Trump's Ban on International Students at Harvard
Trump Proposes Travel Ban on 'Uncontrolled' Countries
Panama Port Owner Balances US-China Pressures
Trump Administration Accused of Obstructing Deportation Cases
Trump’s China Strategy Remains a Geopolitical Puzzle
Eurozone Inflation Falls Below ECB Target to 1.9%
Call for a New Chapter in Globalisation Emerges
Blackstone and Rivals Diverge on Private Equity Strategy
Mayor’s Security Officer Implicated | Shocking New Details Emerge in NYC Kidnapping Case
Bangkok Ranked World's Top City for Remote Work in 2025
Denmark Increases Retirement Age to 70, Setting a European Precedent
Netanyahu Accuses Western Leaders of 'Emboldening Hamas'
Escalating Trade Tensions and Market Reactions
OnlyFans Reportedly in Talks for $8 Billion Sale
JBS Gains Shareholder Approval for U.S. Stock Listing
Booz Allen Hamilton to Cut 2,500 Jobs Amid Federal Spending Reductions
Trump Signs Executive Orders to Accelerate Nuclear Energy Development
Harvard Temporarily Blocks Trump Administration's International Student Ban
Nippon Steel Forms Partnership with U.S. Steel, Headquarters to Remain in Pittsburgh
Trump Expands Tariff Threats to Apple and Samsung Devices
Oracle and OpenAI Plan $40 Billion Nvidia Chip Purchase for AI Data Center
Trump Threatens 50% Tariff on EU Goods, Markets React
The Daily Debate: The Fall of the Dollar — Strategic Reset or Economic Self-Destruction?
×