Humala shuffles Peru cabinet to calm anti-mining strife
Source: Reuters
Humala shuffles Peru cabinet to calm anti-mining strife
By Marco Aquino and Teresa Cespedes
LIMA | Mon Jul 23, 2012 10:09pm EDT
(Reuters) - President Ollanta Humala named human rights lawyer Juan Jimenez prime minister on Monday as the Peruvian leader shuffled his cabinet to calm a wave of violent anti-mining protests.
Jimenez, 47, had been justice minister and replaced Oscar Valdes, a former army officer who led a crackdown on protesters opposed to Newmont Mining's $5 billion Conga project in the northern region of Cajamarca that killed five people this month.
Humala reappointed Finance Minister Luis Miguel Castilla, a favorite of investors, and Mines and Energy Minister Jorge Merino, who oversees a $50 billion pipeline of investments in one of the world's top exporters of minerals.
A former soldier and hardline leftist, Humala now defends foreign investment and has sought to push ahead with big mining projects in one of Latin America's fastest-growing economies.
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