Rafael López Aliaga

Rafael Bernardo López Aliaga Cazorla (born 11 February 1961) is a Peruvian businessman and politician, who is serving

as mayor of Lima since 2023.

López Aliaga was born in Lima on 11 February 1961, but was raised in Chiclayo, Lambayeque Region.

His father, Fernando López Aliaga, worked in the city's Hacienda Pomalca while his mother, Paula Cazorla, was from the Cajamarca Region.

Both of his parents were chemical engineers.

Upon graduating from San Agustín School of Chiclayo, López Aliaga was admitted to the Pedro Ruiz Gallo National University to study industrial engineering.

He subsequently dropped out due to the political unrest of the 1980s.

Relocating in Piura, he was admitted to the University of Piura to study industrial engineering, completing the degree in four years and graduating first in his class.

He obtained a bachelor's degree in 1983.

Later, he obtained a master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) at the University of the Pacífic, and completed the Senior Management Program (PAD) at the University of Piura.

López Aliaga pursued a career in banking, serving at first in Banco Wiese, and as Corporate and Development Banking Manager at Citibank.

Subsequently, he founded Peruvian Corp, a securities enterprise, and Grupo Acres, a hotel and railway finance company.

Since 1999, he has been a co shareholder along with Lorenzo Sousa of PeruRail as well as Belmond's hotels and Trasandino Railway in Peru.

Entering politics through the Lima City Council in 2007, López Aliaga maintained a low profile until 2019, when he was elected to the general secretaryship of National Solidarity in September 2019.

Following a failed run for the Peruvian Congress in 2011, he remained a member of National Solidarity but stayed in the private sector.

He also ran for a seat in Congress in 2011 under the National Solidarity Alliance, but he was unsuccessful.

It was not until 2019 when he assumed the leadership of his party as General Secretary following Castañeda's pretrial detention for a corruption trial.

He is currently the leader of Popular Renewal, the successor to National Solidarity reformed in 2020.

Entering politics late in his career, López Aliaga was elected to Lima's Metropolitan Council, serving under mayor Luis Castañeda Lossio's second term.

At the 2020 parliamentary election, López Aliaga gained political attention as he started shifting his party further to the right.

Eventually, National Solidarity failed to attain congressional representation in election.

Announcing a presidential bid, he was elected president of his party in order to lead a reconstruction process, effectively re-founding the party as Popular Renewal.

López Aliaga ran for President of Peru at the 2021 general election.

Fighting for the right-wing vote alongside Keiko Fujimori and Hernando de Soto, he eventually placed third with 11.75% of the popular vote.

Following the election of Pedro Castillo as president, López Aliaga has been considered as the most visible leader of the Peruvian right, and recognized as the current leader of the opposition.

He ran successfully for the mayorship of Lima in 2022, narrowly winning with a 26.32% of the vote.

As a businessman, López Aliaga is the co-founder (along with Mr Lorenzo Sousa) and a shareholder of Peruval Corp SA, parent company of Ferrocarril Transandino SA and Peru Rail SA, both train companies with operations in Cusco, Arequipa and Puno.

Following the dissolution of the Peruvian Congress, his party was set to run at the 2020 parliamentary election.

Initially a moderate conservative, López Aliaga adopted a conservative platform.

During the 2020 campaign, López Aliaga announced his intention to run for President of Peru at the 2021 general election, stating in a televised interview that he considered himself to be "the Peruvian Bolsonaro".

Following his party's poor results at the 2020 parliamentary election, he announced an organizational re-foundation.

In October 2020, López Aliaga officially founded Popular Renewal, effectively dissolving National Solidarity by changing the registered organization's name and platform.

Assuming the position of party president, he stated that the party is "re-founded with principles of solidarity and anchored in God, Christ."

He campaigns on a neoliberal platform on economic issues and a conservative one on societal issues.

A member of Opus Dei, he is sometimes described as a religious fundamentalist.

He calls for a ban on sex education in colleges, which he sees as a form of "cultural Marxism" promoting homosexuality, a ban on abortion, including in cases of rape or danger to the life of the mother, and a ban on gay marriage.

As part of his campaign, he stated the voting in 2021 would be "the last free election in Peru" and "if we don't go well, this will be Venezuela or Cuba, remember me".

He also blamed presidents Martín Vizcarra and Francisco Sagasti for Peru's economic issues, describing the Vizcarra administration as a "communist style of the government" and called Sagasti a "clown".

He proposed further deregulation of Peru and the elimination of half of its ministries.

According to The Guardian, human rights groups were "alarmed by his use of conspiracy theories, disinformation and hate speech against opponents and journalists".