Susana Baca becomes Peru's first black government minister | World news | The Guardian

Susana Baca becomes Peru's first black government minister

Singer, known as the voice of Afro-Peruvian music tradition, given culture portfolio by president-elect Ollanta Humala.

• Associated Press in Lima
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 July 2011 16.01 BST
• Article history

Susana Baca won a Latin Grammy in 2002 for an album she recorded nearly 20 years earlier in Cuba. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

Peru's president-elect, Ollanta Humala, has chosen the singer Susana Baca as culture minister, making her the country's first black government minister since independence from Spain in 1821.

Baca is the best-known voice of the musical and dance tradition of Afro-Peruvians, descendants of slaves. The 67-year-old won a Latin Grammy in 2002 for the album Lamento Negro, which she recorded nearly two decades earlier in Cuba.

Humala also named his education minister as the sociologist Patricia Salas in the last cabinet appointments announced before he takes office on Thursday.