PERU: Ms Beatriz Merino assumed office as Peruvian Prime Minister this week in a last-ditch effort to avoid the outright collapse of President Alejandro Toledo's embattled administration.
"I am committed to running an efficient administration which focuses on economic growth and human rights and which fights corruption and inequality," Ms Merino said yesterday on her first day in office.
After two years in power President Toledo's approval ratings have dropped to just 11 per cent, while a recent wave of strikes and marches resulted in a state of emergency being declared across the country.
A student was shot dead by security forces and hundreds of protesters beaten and imprisoned in the ensuing violence. The rejection by parliament last month of a sweeping fiscal reform package destined to fund union demands underscored the yawning gap between Mr Toledo's office and the nation's legislative assembly.
The re-emergence of Shining Path guerrillas, who kidnapped a group of foreign oil workers last month, further complicated the political scenario reminding citizens of the bloody civil war which took 60,000 lives in previous decades.
Mr Toledo succeeded disgraced president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), who crushed left-wing insurgents and eliminated hyperinflation, but left a legacy of poverty, repression and corruption.
Peruvian voters hoped that Mr Toledo, who led a popular movement against Mr Fujimori, would reactivate the economy and respect civil liberties but unemployment and poverty remain on the increase. It now seems unlikely that Mr Toledo will reach the end of his mandate which expires in 2006.
Ms Merino was named to the post after several prominent candidates refused the offer, including prominent writer Mario Vargas Llosa and defeated presidential candidate Ms Lourdes Flores.
Peru's first woman prime minister pledged to bring discipline and austerity to the government. It is the most powerful political position ever held by a woman in this Andean nation.
"I firmly believe that this post honours the women of our country - ignored for centuries but today integrated in the nation's destiny," Ms Merino said during a weekend ceremony in which she took over from outgoing prime minister Mr Luis Solari. Ms Merino (55), a lawyer and economist, had been running Peru's tax agency.
President Toledo's cabinet resigned last week for the second time in as many years but only six posts were changed as economy minister Javier Silva Ruete and interior minister Alberto Sanabria, both heavily criticised, remained in place.