Vicente Zeballos

Vicente Zeballos
Prime Minister of Peru
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 September 2019
President	Martín Vizcarra
Preceded by	Salvador del Solar
Minister of Justice and Human Rights
In office 21 July 2018 – 1 October 2019
President	Martín Vizcarra
Preceded by	Salvador Heresi
Succeeded by	Ana Teresa Revilla
Member of Congress
In office 28 July 2011 – 30 September 2019
Constituency	Moquegua
Mayor of the Province of Mariscal Nieto
In office 1 January 2003 – 31 December 2006
Personal details
Born	(1963-05-10) 10 May 1963 Lima, Peru
Political party	Independent (2015–present) Union for Peru (2011-2015)
Alma mater	Universidad Inca Garcilaso de la Vega

Vicente Antonio Zeballos Salinas (born May 10, 1963) is a Peruvian politician who has served as Prime Minister of Peru since September 2019.

Born in the southern region of Tacna, Zeballos began his political career as mayor of Mariscal Nieto Province in Moquegua, from 2003 to 2006. Subsequently he was elected to Congress in for the National Solidarity Alliance, representing Moquegua and Union for Peru. Zeballos was reelected in 2016, running in this occasion as an independent within Peruvians for Change. He left the parliamentary caucus in December 2017, in protest to the pardon granted to former president Alberto Fujimori by the leader of the party and then-president of Peru, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

In Martín Vizcarra's administration, Zeballos was appointed Minister of Justice and Human Rights, serving in the position until his appointment as Prime Minister after Salvador del Solar's resignation due to the denied confidence given by Congress, prompting its constitutional dissolution. His tenure has been marked by controversy and subject of extensive media scrutiny regarding his management skills.

Early life and education

Vicente Antonio Zeballos Salinas was born on May 10, 1963, in Tacna, Peru, but was raised in the city of Moquegua. He completed his high school education at the Simón Bolivar School of Moquegua.

He enrolled in the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega University, where he studied law and political science, attaining a law degree. He specialized in constitutional law at the Center for Constitutional Studies in Madrid, Spain. He pursued a PhD in constitutional law at the Complutense University of Madrid, but did not complete the degree.

Career

Zeballos started his political career by running for the Peruvian Congress in 2001 with the Union for Peru party representing the Moquegua constituency. Although not elected, he gained prominence in his region, gaining the mayorship of the Mariscal Nieto Province in 2002. He ran for reelection in 2006 and 2010, but was not elected.

Peruvian Congress (2011-2019)

In late 2010, former mayor Luis Castañeda of Lima started his full-scale presidential campaign. Recruiting regional leaders around the country, Zeballos was selected to run for Congress in the National Solidarity Alliance, which grouped Union for Peru in coalition with the National Solidarity Party, Always Together and Change 90. The alliance would attain 9 seats in Congress, with Zeballos elected representing Moquegua for the 2011-2016 term.

In his term in office, he was considered a swing vote among regional representatives. He ran for the Presidency of Congress in 2015, losing to opposition congressman Luis Iberico Núñez.

In 2016, he was invited to run for reelection under the Peruvians for Change congressional list of the Moquegua Region. He was successfully reelected for the 2016-2021 term. Serving in the cabinet as Minister of Justice and Human Rigths, his term would be shortened due to the dissolution of Congress issued by president Vizcarra on September 30, 2019.

Minister of Justice and Human Rights (2018-2019)

On July 21, 2018, president Martín Vizcarra appointed him Minister of Justice, replacing the disgraced Salvador Heresi, who resigned amidst the political scandal involving the Supreme Court Justice, César Hinostroza.

During his tenure, he was questioned before Congress twice. On March 14, 2019, with 8 votes in favor, 24 against, and one abstention, Congress approved the admission of a motion for appeal against Zeballos for him to report on the terms of the collaboration agreement with the Brazilian company Odebrecht, which was signed with the Public Ministry and the Attorney General. On August 15, 2019, Congress voted on the admission of a second motion for appeal against the minister to respond to the escape of the hitman William Moreno (a.k.a. "Goro"), hitman from former Governor of Ancash, César Álvarez's criminal network, and implicated in the death of former regional councilman, Ezequiel Nolasco and Hilda Saldarriaga. With 63 votes in favor, eight against and 21 abstentions, Zeballos was summoned on September 2 to answer a set of 12 questions regarding the case.

On September 2, 2019, Zeballos attended Congress to answer the questions of the interpellation statement. The debate lasted more than four hours and was finally suspended by the President of Congress, Pedro Olaechea, without actually presenting a vote of no confidence.

The minister denied having lied to the Justice Committee about the hitman's escape, and denied alleged rumors of wanting to divert attention from the criminal's escape. To his presentation, Zeballos also added the existence of responsibilities of both the National Penitentiary Institute (INPE) and the Judiciary.

Premiership (2019-)

On September 30, 2019, Zeballos was sworn as the new Prime Minister of Peru, succeeding Salvador del Solar, following the disputed attempt by Congress passing a no-confidence motion against the latter and his cabinet as a whole. The decree dissolving Congress was the first law signed by president Vizcarra and Zeballos as prime minister.

On October 30, 2019, Zeballos presented, together with president Vizcarra, the main policies that his administration would advance in the following months: universal access to health services, an increase in the national minimum wage, fighting against violence against women, promoting public safety and education, and constructing two large airports. Prior to this, the government had declared that after the dissolution of Congress it would not be appropriate to present the measures of the ministerial cabinet before the Congressional Permanent Assembly, which had limited functions.

On May 19, 2020, the President of Congress, Manuel Merino, invited Zeballos to a face-to-face session of Congress in compliance with Articles 130 and 135 of the Constitution and Article 82 of the Rules of Congress. The first article establishes that within 30 days of taking office, the Cabinet must attend Congress, expose the government's general policy and the main measures that its management requires. Article 135 establishes that after the parliamentary interregnum, the Prime Minister must expose the acts of the Executive Branch during the period between the dissolution and the installation of the new Congress.

Zeballos told the press that it is not appropriate to quote him based on article 130, as this cabinet "pre-exists" the new Congress. He indicated that he should only be called in application of 135 and criticized that a face-to-face session be held amid isolation from the 2020 coronavirus disease pandemic in Peru. Hours later, the President of Congress pointed out that the Zeballos cabinet does not have the confidence of the previous Congress or the current one. Then, the Chairman of the Constitutional Committee of Congress, Omar Chehade, warned that if the Prime Minister does not request confidence, he would commit to contempt, and it would be possible for a constitutional accusation and censorship.

On May 28, 2020, Zeballos went to request the vote of confidence with his cabinet. He obtained 89 votes in favor, 35 against, and 4 abstentions.

Controversies

On October 21, 2019, Zeballos referred to the possible candidacies of legislators from the recently dissolved congress, questioning whether they should be able to participate in the 2020 congressional elections, referring to the constitutional referendum of 2018 where the immediate re-election of parliamentarians had been specifically addressed.

On November 14, 2019, Luis Carrasco, the president of the Special Electoral Jury for Lima Centro (Jurado Electoral Especial; JEE), opened an investigation into the prime minister for allegedly violating, through his statement to the press as a public official, the principle of electoral neutrality. In response, Zeballos questioned the legal basis for the JEE investigation

On November 27, 2019, JEE closed their investigation of Zeballos. However, the body did move to censure the then Minister of Women Gloria Montenegro, accusing her of the same infraction.