Peru's Castillo picks career diplomat as new foreign minister

Peru's new President Pedro Castillo addresses the law makers and invitees during the Inauguration Day at the Congress in Lima, Peru July 28, 2021. Peru's Presidency/Handout via REUTERS

LIMA (Reuters) -Career diplomat Oscar Maurtua was sworn in as Peru's new foreign minister on Friday to replace a leftist professor who resigned just weeks into the job over controversial comments he made before taking the role.

Maurtua already served as foreign minister in the early 2000s under centrist President Alejandro Toledo, and will now serve the far-left administration led by Pedro Castillo, a former elementary school teacher.