President Otto Perez Molina has not accepted the resignation of Finance Minister Pavel Centeno, who will reconsider his resignation.
From an article in Diario de Centroamérica by Maby Lopez:
In the face of constant challenges from the leader of the opposition, Finance Minister, Pavel Centeno, resigned yesterday morning from his post, in order to put an end to the blackmail he was subjected to by this group.
Pavel Centeno resigned by leaving a questioning session in Congress, ongoing since February 16th.
The Minister told reporters at the exit of the Legislative Palace "a minister can not be challenged within 15 days of assuming office. It is a waste of time and I came here to perform technical work, not political. This congress doesn’t make any sense. "
Otto Perez, president elect of Guatemala, has appointed Sergio de la Torre as the future Minister of the Economy.
The president-elect said of the decision: "In the past 8 years Sergio de la Torre has been a member of the Monetary Board, he is a business manager and a businessman. He has always been involved in the country’s economic development."
The other appointment announced was that of Carlos Contreras for Employment Minister.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Romero Rodriguez, confirmed to Emisoras Unidas his resignation from his post.
In an interview with the former minister, he expressed his disagreement with Congress questioning him.
Rodriguez described the interrogation as "a waste of time when they have no specific purpose" and said that during his tenure he came to the Legislative Palace 50 times for different explanations," noted an article in Emisoras Unidas.
Roberto Robles, director of the Guatemalan Institute of Tourism, resigned to his office.
The resignation came on the same day in which Vice President Espada said that "tourism is completely abandoned."
Espada said meetings will be held in the Executive branch to discuss changes to the tourism strategy. With changes to promotion and policies, issues such as airport construction will be discussed.
Alfredo Rolando Del Cid Pinillos is the new Finance Minister, replacing Edgar Balselles.
Edgar Balselles told the press that his dismissal was motivated by his refusal to accept the government's financial policy.
Balselles had replaced Juan Alberto Fuentes Knight at the Ministry, a renowned economist, who in turn resigned in June due to opposition from the business sector to accept a tax reform says the article in Prensalibre.com.
Juan Alberto Fuentes Knight resigned to the Finance Ministry; he is unhappy with the little progress made in tax matters.
In a press release, Knight commented the positive things achieved in his tenure, which include the creation of a transparency vice ministry, four information websites, and improving Guatemala’s standing in the International Transparency Ranking by 12 spots.
In Central America, Fuentes of Guatemala is at first with 5.1, followed by Handal of El Salvador, then Zuniga of Costa Rica and Alexander of Panama at 5.9, and then by the Honduran and Nicaraguan Ministers at 3.8 and 3.5 respectively.
A panel of 140 economists from the region responded via email to a survey by AmericaEconomia Intelligence in which they were asked to give their opinion about the performance of the public finance.
President Álvaro Colom of Guatemala announced a minor Cabinet reshuffle in which Celso Cerezo takes over from Eusebio Del Cid as health minister and Julio Recinas replaces Raúl Robles at Agriculture.
"These changes are meant to make improvements in the government's team," Colom told a press conference. "And thank God there's no need for a transition. The new ministers were already in the team and those who are being replaced will continue to be part of it."
Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom has appointed Rómulo Alfredo Caballeros as Economy Minister. The post had been vacant for 43 days.
Previously, Caballeros had positions in the Economic Commission for Latin America, and in Guatemala's General Planning Secretariat and the foreign ministry.
His predecessor, José Carlos García Macal, left the post for health reasons.