When Peru’s new president, Ollanta Humala, was sworn in last week, there was a little something for everyone. For international and local investors spooked by his incendiary political past, he rolled out a cabinet brimming with business executives and notables from the Peruvian establishment. In a nod to neglected minorities, he named Susana Baca, a famed singer who is black, to tend the culture ministry. And to “Ollantistas”, his longtime comrades on the left, he served up “Peru for all,” a grab bag of benefits including a 25 percent hike in the minimum wage over two years, universal pensions, and a new ministry of development and social inclusion.
Ms. Baca, whose CD “Lamento Negro” won a Latin Grammy award in 2002, is the first black Peruvian to be named a cabinet minister in that country since it gained its independence from Spain in 1821, and she provides another example of a recent South American trend to put artists in charge of government cultural policy. Previously, for example, the pop singer-songwriter Gilberto Gil served as culture minister in Brazil, and the actress-director Paulina Urrutia in Chile. Despite her new duties, Ms. Baca intends to go ahead with a tour of the United States and Europe scheduled to begin this month, according to her publicist, Jesse Cutler. The performances are to include one in New York City on Aug. 21, at the City Winery.
“I have a difficult year ahead of me, with many concerts, but I have always been interested in working for Peru,” Ms. Baca, 67, told a Peruvian radio station. “I will work to ensure that culture is not something that is only enjoyed by the people who can afford it, but that it be democratic, and that it reaches everyone and is inclusive.
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