Castillo calms nerves with choice of finance minister

The new president, Pedro Castillo (pictured), completed his cabinet, swearing in the moderate leftist economist Pedro Francke as finance minister, calming jittery investors and anxious Peruvians.

Castillo’s choice of prime minister had caused unease. Guido Bellido is accused of defending Shining Path, a Maoist rebel group that killed tens of thousands of Peruvians in the 1980s and 1990s, and is alleged to have made homophobic remarks.

Francke vowed to work for “equal opportunities, without the distinction of gender, ethnic identity or sexual orientation”.