[R-G] Peru's president names leftist as new prime minister

[Anthony Fenton]

Peru's president names leftist as new prime minister

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hF9qbfQk_J7H31wYYoBa-1vdIr3Q

LIMA (AFP) — Peruvian President Alan Garcia on Saturday named Yehude  
Simon, a leftist governor once jailed for alleged links to outlawed  
Tupac Amaru rebels, as the country's next prime minister.

Simon, 61, will replace outgoing prime minister Jorge del Castillo,  
who resigned Friday along with Garcia's entire 13-member cabinet in a  
bid to avert an opposition censure resolution in Congress over an oil- 
industry kickback scandal.

An independent leftist politician of Palestinian descent, Simon is  
currently governor of the northern Lambayeque region.

Garcia said Simon accepted the post, and that he would ask Simon "to  
establish a broad-base government... and incorporate regional  
personalities."

The president said that one of Simon's main tasks will be to  
"absolutely eradicate corruption."

Simon, who could take office as early as Monday, was imprisoned for  
eight years during the presidency of Alberto Fujimori for allegedly  
condoning the activities of the leftist Tupac Amaru Revolutionary  
Movement (MRTA) guerrillas.

He was pardoned in 2000 soon after Fujimori fled to Japan and resigned  
the presidency, and had a successful career in politics starting in  
2002.

The kickback scandal that resulted in Del Castillo's resignation was  
sparked October 5 when nine audio tapes of closed-door negotiations  
between government officials, a former congressman and a top oil baron  
aired on television.

The political crisis coincides with Garcia's very low, 20 percent  
approval rating in opinion polls. Garcia is mid-way through his second  
five-year term in office, which ends in 2011, after serving as  
president in 1985-1990.