3,309 bytes added
, 02:47, 23 December 2020
<br>By Marco Aquino<br> <br>LIMA, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Peruvian lawmaker Francisco Sagasti was sworn in as interim president on Tuesday, voted for by Congress in an effort to return stability to a country that has seen deadly protests and the departure of two presidents over the last week.<br> <br>Sagasti, a legislator from the centrist Purple Party, is expected to serve out his term until July next year, with a new presidential election scheduled for April 11.<br> <br>The Andean nation has been shaken since the abrupt ouster in an impeachment trial of popular leader Martin Vizcarra on Nov.<br><br>9. The removal of Vizcarra, [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-du-lich-trung-khanh-cuu-trai-cau-thanh-do-ha-noi-sai-gon.html tour cửu trại câu giá rẻ] whose anti-graft agenda had caused tensions with Congress, triggered often violent protests in which two young people died.<br> <br>Vizcarra's successor, Manuel Merino, resigned on Sunday after just five days in power.<br> <br>"It is absolutely necessary to remain calm, but do not confuse this with passivity, conformity, or resignation," Sagasti said in an address to Congress after his swearing-in.<br> <br>Sagasti's appointment has indeed appeared to calm tensions, though a deep mistrust of the country's politicians remains.<br><br>On Monday night, hundreds of people marched in the capital Lima, with calls for a new constitution and "justice for the fallen."<br> <br>"I think that Sagasti is someone that gives democratic guarantees, who can get a transition towards a new government that will be okay," said one protester, Paloma Carpio.<br> <br>Jose Murguia, also protesting, was less convinced.<br> <br>"Quite frankly, it's the same rubbish. The mask has changed but everything is all the same," he said.<br> <br>Sagasti, 76, an engineer and former World Bank official, has yet to name his cabinet, [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-du-lich-trung-khanh-cuu-trai-cau-thanh-do-ha-noi-sai-gon.html tour cửu trại câu từ hà nội] but has said he is open to including ministers from Vizcarra's government, which could open the door to the return of star economy minister, María Antonieta Alva.<br> <br>"If they are people with experience, integrity and the desire to work, I think we would do wrong to leave them aside," Sagasti told local television station Canal N.<br> <br>Sagasti is Peru's fourth president in less than three years, after the departures of Vizcarra and Merino, and the resignation of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in 2018 on allegations of corruption.<br> <br>Peru's sol currency reacted positively to the news, rising around 1.75% on Tuesday, its biggest daily rise in seven months.<br><br>The [https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=country%27s%20sovereign country's sovereign] bonds also edged up.<br> <br>Peru, the world's no. 2 producer of copper, [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-du-lich-trung-khanh-cuu-trai-cau-thanh-do-ha-noi-sai-gon.html kynghidongduong.vn] has been hit hard this year with one of the world's deadliest per capita outbreaks of COVID-19, and is expected to post its worst annual economic contraction in a century.<br>(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Additional reporting by Maria Cervantes; Writing by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Rosalba O'Brien)<br>