20 Facts About Pedro Cateriano

Pedro Alvaro Cateriano Bellido was born on 26 June 1958 and is a Peruvian lawyer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Peru from July to August 2020, under Martin Vizcarra's administration.

Pedro Cateriano previously served as Ollanta Humala's minister of defense from July 2012 to April 2015, and prime minister from April 2015 to July 2016.

Pedro Cateriano published in the following years a detailed work on the investigation.

Pedro Cateriano faced criticism for his support of pecuniary sanctions on voluntary military service enrollment, which the Constitutional Court declared the measure unconstitutional.

Pedro Cateriano was sworn as Prime Minister of Peru on 15 July 2020, succeeding Vicente Zeballos as the government faces strong criticism due to Vizcarra's management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru.

Pedro Cateriano would serve until 4 August 2020, less than three weeks in office, as Congress voted against his confirmation and left office on 6 August 2020.

Pedro Cateriano is the son of Pedro Cateriano Delgado, from Arequipa, and Clara Bellido Delgado.

Pedro Cateriano has doctoral studies at the Ortega y Gasset University Research Institute, attached to the Complutense University of Madrid, specializing in constitutional law.

Pedro Cateriano entered the political scene as he was slated for a seat in the Peruvian Congress for Lima with the Liberty Movement, the only political party in which he has been registered, led by Mario Vargas Llosa, serving from 1990 to 1992, which was dissolved by President Alberto Fujimori.

Pedro Cateriano gained prominence as member of the Investigative Committee of the First presidency of Alan Garcia, alongside Lourdes Flores and Fernando Olivera.

In July 2001, Pedro Cateriano was appointed Deputy Minister of Justice by President Alejandro Toledo.

Pedro Cateriano served in the ministry under the management of Fernando Olivera until June 2002.

Pedro Cateriano was appointed Minister of Defense on 23 July 2012, under cabinet led by Juan Jimenez Mayor, succeeding congressman Jose Antonio Urquizo in the position.

At the start of his tenure, Pedro Cateriano declared his interest in promoting of voluntary military service, although the Constitutional Court declared that the draw for military service was not unconstitutional.

On 14 July 2013, a Peruvian journalistic program revealed a telephone recording in which Pedro Cateriano tells an interlocutor that First Lady Nadine Heredia, gave him the "green light" to make some purchases for the Defense sector through the United Nations Development Programme.

The dialogue revealed to the local press an alleged interference of Ollanta Humala's wife in government decisions; however, Pedro Cateriano argued that Heredia only "transmits the president's messages".

Congress debated that said provision promoted by Pedro Cateriano was illegal, since being a voluntary service, a pecuniary sanction cannot be imposed on those do not wish to do so.

Pedro Cateriano accepted Vizcarra's invitation to form a new cabinet, and was sworn in as Zeballos' successor.

Pedro Cateriano was succeeded by Walter Martos, a Peruvian Army general who had been serving as minister of defense since October 2019.

On 14 November 2022, Pedro Cateriano announced that his new political party, People's Liberty, had requested its registration as a party from the National Jury of Elections.