During a plenary session on Tuesday, Parliament approved the censure motions against Energy and Mines Minister Romulo Mucho, for his lack of suitability to address the problems of small-scale and artisanal miners.
The votes were 70 in favor, four (4) against, and 13 abstentions. This means that Mucho must leave the position he currently holds.
During the session, the two requests for censure were presented and supported, respectively, by Fuerza Popular (Popular Force) and Podemos Perú (We Can Peru) parties.
In supporting the first, Congressman Arturo Alegria considered that Mucho showed "indolence and incapacity" when he presented the bill for the formalization of artisanal and small-scale mining, known as the Mape Law, on November 21.
The legislator argued that this initiative is intended to "push this problem onto the next government."
Alegria pointed out that the aforementioned proposal delegates functions that should be fulfilled by the Executive Branch.
The lawmaker added that "they have lost a great opportunity to put an end to a problem the country faces, which is informality." Instead, "maintaining the status quo" is sought, he said.
Second motion
The second motion was supported by Guido Bellido, who considered that the government's Mape Law project fails to meet the expectations of the small-scale mining sector and artisanal miners.
Bellido stated that the Executive Branch "has been careless and lacking interest" in this matter, affecting four million people linked to the aforementioned sector.
He said that the government should take responsibility for submitting the proposal at the wrong time, since the delay had generated protests and discontent, expressed through roadblocks.
At the same time, while Congress was holding the plenary session that censured Mucho, the Energy and Mines Commission was discussing the bill to set new deadlines for the registration of artisanal and informal miners in the Comprehensive Registry for Mining Formalization of Artisanal and Informal Miners.