Peru's new president Castillo takes office

Peru's new president Pedro Castillo, a village school teacher, took office on Wednesday following a narrow election victory over right-wing populist candidate Keiko Fujimori.

The 51-year-old took his oath of office in Congress in Lima, promising "a new constitution and a new Peru" on the 200th anniversary of the country's independence.

"We are a government of the people," Castillo, from the Marxist-Leninist Peru Libre party, said. "Peru is now ruled by a peasant."

Castillo pledged to create jobs, provide government aid for poor families, and invest in education, saying his administration will seek to build a more prosperous and fairer country.

The left-wing politician also used his inaugural address to dispel fears of an overly radical agenda, saying that "the story that we wanted to expropriate savings, homes, cars, factories and other property owned by citizens ... is totally false."

The 51-year-old said the Peruvian state guarantees citizens' property obtained legally, but also stated that projects in areas such as mining "not generating any social gains ... will not be implemented."

Castillo will face enormous challenges. Peru is suffering particularly badly from the coronavirus pandemic: It is one of the countries with the highest mortality rate in the world and its economy collapsed by 12.9 per cent last year.

In addition, splinter groups of the guerrilla organization Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) are still active in the country's interior.

Political turmoil has marked the past year, as the Congress was locked in a bitter conflict with the government: Parliamentarians first forced president Martin Vizcarra out of office, and then his successor, Manuel Merino, threw in the towel after fierce protests.