LATIN AMERICA NEWSDECEMBER 10, 2011, 8:48 P.M. ET
President Humala Names New Cabinet Chief
By ROBERT KOZAK
LIMA -- President Ollanta Humala, facing a crisis over ongoing protests against his government's handling of a mining dispute, on Saturday accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Salomon Lerner Ghitis.
European Pressphoto Agency
Former Peruvian Prime Minister Salomon Lerner in July.
At the same time, Humala named his interior minister, Oscar Valdes, to become the new chief of cabinet, also known as prime minister. Like Humala, Valdes is a former military officer.
The cabinet shuffle comes as the administration of Humala, a 49-year-old nationalist, faces a wave of protests against projects in mining and in other sectors.
Political analysts say that Humala has faced an unusually large number of scandals and crises since taking office on July 28, which have started to undermine his popularity.
Lerner's resignation was unexpected, as he was close to Humala and helped finance his election campaign this year. Lerner, a businessman, was also seen as being a key link between Humala and the business community.
His resignation as prime minister means that the rest of the cabinet also automatically hands in their resignations, allowing Humala to make greater changes to his cabinet.
In his resignation letter, published on the web page of newspaper La Republica, Lerner said that he was resigning in part to allow President Humala the absolute freedom to make changes.
A series of scandals and protests against government policies has shaken the Humala administration.
Often violent protests in recent weeks in northern Peru have forced the suspension of a $4.8 billion copper-gold project known as Minas Conga, run by Newmont Mining Corp.
A key adviser and former Humala spokesman, Carlos Tapia, resigned from his post after expressing support for protesters against the Minas Conga project, while the deputy environment minister also resigned in support of the protesters.
Separately, one of Humala's two vice presidents, Omar Chehade, was booted out of Congress for 120 days due to his role in allegedly lobbying police to intervene in a judicial dispute. Another two members of Humala's Gana Peru party have been removed temporarily from Congress for corruption.
"It (Lerner's resignation) is a surprise. It isn't usual for a government with such a short period of time in office to suffer from so many crises," Raul Castro, an opposition member of Congress and head of the PPC party, told Canal N television.
Humala ran unsuccessfully for the office of president in 2006 on a left-wing platform. He then moderated his policies before winning the 2011 election.
Write to Robert Kozak at robert.kozak@dowjones.com