Peru’s prime minister resigns

LIMA—Peru’s Prime Minister Salomon Lerner, seen as President Ollanta Humala’s right-hand man, resigned on Saturday after just five months in the job, according to a copy of his resignation letter seen by AFP.

The decision by Lerner to step down automatically means the entire cabinet of Humala—a leftist former army officer who was sworn in as Peru’s president in July—must also resign, according to Peruvian law.

Peru’s cabinet traditionally steps down each December to allow the country’s president some leeway to reshuffle his line-up of ministers.

“With the sole purpose of giving you complete freedom to make any necessary adjustments in the cabinet, I offer you my irrevocable resignation,” Lerner said in his letter to Humala.

Many of Peru’s current ministers could keep their jobs under Lerner’s successor, La Republica newspaper—seen as close to the government—reported on its website.

The departure of Lerner, a millionaire businessman before entering government, comes after Humala declared a state of emergency in a restive mining region in northern Peru in a bid to quell several days of labor unrest.

Workers in the Cajamarca department had gone on strike for more than 10 days in protest at what they fear will be adverse environmental impact from a planned $4.8 billion gold and copper mining initiative.

In July, Humala became Peru’s first leftist president in almost four decades, succeeding center-right leader Alan Garcia. He has pledged to confront the high poverty plaguing his Andean nation despite its solid economic growth.

Humala won a second-round run-off in June over Keiko Fujimori, daughter of Peru’s disgraced former president Alberto Fujimori.

He brought together liberals and moderate leftists for his eclectic first cabinet, including leftist writer Rafael Roncagliolo as foreign minister and Lerner as his prime minister.