Peru's new President, José María Balcázar (left), shakes hands with the Minister of Production, César Manuel Quispe Luján (right), following his oath of office at the Government Palace.
Photo: Produce.
Just four months after taking office, last week the Peruvian Congress impeached José Jerí as President and appointed José María Balcázar in his place. Balcázar, in turn, swore in his new cabinet yesterday, composed mainly of technocrats from Jerí's previous administration who were either ministers or vice ministers. Among the former is the Minister of Production, César Manuel Quispe Luján, who has been ratified in his position.
Back in November, when his first oath of office took place, local media outlets such as Infobae highlighted that Quispe Luján combines technical management with a vision focused on social development and financial inclusion.
His profile fit that of President Jerí's cabinet, which, according to those media, was characterized by incorporating technical profiles with experience in public management, reinforcing administrative efficiency, and moving away from political appointments.
That technocratic profile of César Manuel Quispe Luján, who, during the term of his predecessor, Sergio González Guerrero, had been serving as Vice Minister of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Industry, also fits now with the needs of President Balcázar for his transitional executive.
With the country awaiting elections in just two months, the executive formed yesterday should govern for the next five months, until July 28, when the winner of the vote to be held in the country on April 12 takes office.
But while all this is happening in Congress, fishing activity continues off the Peruvian coast. With two important fishing seasons—anchovy and jumbo flying squid—currently underway and subject to ongoing review to set quotas and deadlines, the decisions made in Lima have repercussions even far beyond the country's borders.
According to the statement issued by Peru's Ministry of Production (Produce) announcing the ratification of its head in his position, Quispe Luján has reaffirmed once again his commitment to the promotion of innovation, competitiveness and sustainable development of the productive sectors, "consolidating Produce's role as an engine of economic growth and national productive transformation."
As WeAreAquaculture reported back in October, César Manuel Quispe Luján holds a degree in Cooperative Management from the Federico Villarreal National University in Peru and a master's degree in Microfinance and Social Development from the University of Alcalá in Spain. With extensive experience in public and private management, he also has expertise in the SMEs, industrial, financial, and fishing sectors.
As mentioned then, his last position before being appointed Minister was as Viceminister of SMEs and Industry but, before that, he had already held other roles within Produce, such as Director General of SMEs and Cooperatives, Director General of Citizen Services, Coordinator of Decentralization, Director of Artisanal Fishing, and Director General of Fishing Extraction and Production for Direct Human Consumption, where he promoted the formalization of artisanal fishing and the sustainable development of the fishing sector.
His experience in the field, we ventured then, could prove decisive at a time when the Ministry had just brought an end to the jumbo flying squid crisis following protests, some of them violent, by artisanal fishermen over the management of this species, which brought fishing activity to a standstill for two days and also caused blockades on some of the country's main roads, particularly affecting the Piura region.
Since then, following the plans already laid out by the previous head of Produce, the Ministry has maintained its roadmap and in these first months of the year we have learned of measures to improve control over the traceability of resources, but also to support the competitiveness of the artisanal fleet, in addition to several working meetings with fishermen to emphasize the need for responsible and sustainable fishing.
The most recent, held a few days ago, was a technical working group to address the main difficulties in the jumbo flying squid sector, where the problems of this fishery were revealed in a comprehensive manner, considering biological, monitoring and enforcement angles, as well as commercial aspects. Just a few days later, Produce extended the period and quota for this artisanal fishing.