Reviving Peru Is No Easy Task for Interim Cabinet

In Peru and elsewhere, the term “caretaker government” does not usually convey an image of strength.

That’s why all the applause in Lima was heartening last week, when interim Peruvian President Valentin Paniagua introduced a Cabinet to lead a period of democratic reconstruction during the next eight months.

The loudest ovation greeted the new interior minister, Antonio Ketin Vidal, a retired police general who became a national hero when he hunted down a notorious terrorist leader in 1992.

There also were cheers for Prime Minister Javier Perez de Cuellar, 80, internationally known because of his tenure as secretary-general of the United Nations. The Justice Ministry went to Diego Garcia Sayan, a legal scholar who is admired in the region. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs went to Susana Villaran, a noted human rights leader.

Prominent Peruvians used the phrase un gobierno de lujo, a first-class government, to describe the talented professionals who will run the country after 10 years in which the best and worst of politics revolved around two overwhelming personalities: former President Alberto Fujimori and his spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos.

Paniagua’s team must stabilize a slumping economy while reforming the courts, electoral agencies and other institutions needed for a clean presidential election in April. And it must dismantle the mafia that Montesinos is accused of constructing in the dangerously powerful security forces.

“Most analysts are really optimistic about the composition of this government,” said Peru expert Gina Amatangelo of the Washington Office on Latin America, a U.S.-based think tank. “There’s general confidence in Paniagua’s ability to ensure free and fair elections.”

Peruvians can be proud that this year of relentless upheaval and tension was bloodless--except for six deaths in a fire set by vandals during protests against Fujimori’s inauguration July 28. The democracy staggered, but it did not fall.

Nonetheless, the political crisis worsened the economic straits of millions of Peruvians who worry more about day-to-day survival than the epic intrigues of their rulers.

A recession has aggravated unemployment and chronic underemployment. The budget deficit is expected to hit 3% of the gross domestic product by year’s end. Interest payments due on the foreign debt have ballooned to an estimated $2.1 billion.

Economy Minister Javier Silva Ruete will have to revive investor confidence and begin the hard work of renegotiating the debt with international finance officials. He has the support of Roque Benavides, president of the national business council, who called the Cabinet “very good, more technical than political, and that is what Peru needs.”

The ministers are not unbesmirched by politics. After all, Paniagua was elected by the opposition-controlled Congress that ousted Fujimori last week on the grounds that he was morally unfit to hold office. Several ministers were prominent foes of Fujimori, and they have ties to presidential hopefuls among the opposition.

But even Fujimori loyalists praised the appointment of Interior Minister Ketin, who along with two other retired and respected generals has been handed a daunting mission: purging the security forces of allies of Montesinos. The new defense minister and military chief wasted no time forcing the early retirement of more than a dozen generals beholden to the former spy chief.

Ketin’s top priority is to capture Montesinos, who has been a fugitive for nearly six weeks. Ketin is expected to create an elite investigative unit for a manhunt that is likely to lead into the maze of a government filled with thousands of former operatives in the National Intelligence Service.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Key Cabinet Members

Among the key leaders who will serve in interim President Valentin Paniagua’s Cabinet in Peru:

* Prime Minister: Javier Perez de Cuellar, a lawyer and career diplomat, was secretary-general of the United Nations from 1982 to 1991. The 80-year-old also will serve as foreign minister.

* Economy Minister: Javier Silva Ruete, a former economy and agriculture minister, will have to revive investor confidence and help renegotiate Peru’s debt.

* Interior Minister: Antonio Ketin Vidal, a retired police general, became a national hero when he hunted down a notorious terrorist leader in 1992.

* Justice Minister: Diego Garcia Sayan is a legal scholar who is admired in the region. He served as an advisor to former presidential candidate Alejandro Toledo.

* Women’s Affairs Minister: Susana Villaran is a noted human rights activist. She led a human rights coalition in Peru.

Source: Times staff