Censored Minister of Health appointed as coordinator of the Pronis investigated by the prosecutor's office

After Congress censored him with 71 votes in favor of his departure, he still Minister of Health, Hernán Condori, continues to make changes within the crucial public institution. On Friday, Carlos José Cantorín Camayo was appointed as the new general coordinator of the National Health Investment Program (Pronis). The measure has attracted attention because he is a citizen who has been sentenced for the crime of collusion.

A publication by El Comercio pointed out that Cantorín Camayo is an architect who was in charge of Urban Development at the Provincial Municipality of Yauli La Oroya in 2012, the Urban Development Management in the Provincial Municipality of Huancayo in 2019 and was municipal manager in the same entity in 2020 for finally become director in Tayacaja Subregional Management in 2021.

His administration, which began in La Oroya in 2012, earned him a sentence of four years of effective imprisonment and disqualification for the same time along with other officials. The Fifth Single Person Criminal Court of Huancayo Specialized in Offences of Corruption of Officials sentenced him for the crime of collusion by having agreed with a construction company to carry out a work. However, in 2019, the Transitional Criminal Chamber Specialized in Offences of Corruption of Officials declared this sentence null and void following the appeal of the official appointed by Hernán Condori.

In conversation with the newspaper that released Cantorín's judicial past, the latter assured that “there was no reasonable evidence” for this sentence. “Unfortunately, sentences are made with indications, without hard evidence. This was appealed. The moments and events established by the prosecutor's office are out of date,” he added.

T he new coordinator of the Pronis has not left his judicial problems in the past, since in 2021 the Office of the Prosecutor Specialized in Crimes of Corruption opened a preliminary investigation against Cantorín for alleged collusion in a work of tracks and sidewalks in the Sicaya district. However, the questioned official has indicated that he had no interference in the case against him. “What is done is to denounce all the authorities. The respective responsibility will be dismissed,” he told El Comercio.

EARLY DEPARTURE

After Congress approved the censorship against Hernán Condori, Hernán Condori should resign, according to Peru's Political Constitution. However, so far the holder of the portfolio has not submitted his letter announcing his departure from office. From the presidency, various profiles would already be evaluated to appoint the new official who will be responsible for the management of the pandemic against COVID-19.

It should be recalled that Condori's departure comes after several questions that appeared since the very day he took office. At that time, it was discovered that the doctor had promoted through social networks a product whose effectiveness had not been scientifically validated. Days later, from the Council of Ministers, the Minister of Health stated that the product was supported by the FDA, but this information was immediately denied by the same company that manufactures Cluster X2. On their website, they specify that their product is not validated by the US agency.

The parliamentarians who submitted the censorship also alleged that Minsa was questionable handling of the effects of the pandemic, especially in the vaccination process. This has shown notable declines in the number of citizens attending vaccinations in recent weeks.

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