Rafael López-Aliaga

Rafael Bernardo López-Aliaga Cazorla (born 11 February 1961) is a Peruvian businessman, industrial engineer and politician who served as mayor of Lima from 2023 to 2025. He is currently the leader of the far-right Popular Renewal party, the successor to National Solidarity in 2020, and the party's candidate in the 2026 Peruvian presidential election.

Entering politics late in his career, López Aliaga was elected to Lima's Metropolitan Council, serving under mayor Luis Castañeda Lossio's second term. Following a failed run for the Peruvian Congress in 2011, he remained a member of National Solidarity but stayed in the private sector. 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.

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 the election. Announcing a presidential bid, he was elected president of his party to lead a reconstruction process, effectively refounding 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 one of the most visible leaders of the Peruvian right. He ran successfully for the mayorship of Lima in 2022, narrowly winning with 26.32% of the vote.

As a businessman, López Aliaga is the co-founder (along with 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.

Early life and education 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, graduates of the National University of San Marcos in Lima.

Upon graduating from San Agustín School of Chiclayo located in Pimentel district, López Aliaga was admitted to the in Lambayeque city to study civil engineering, ranking first in the entrance examination. 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.

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

2021 Peruvian presidential election

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".

In an interview conducted on January 19, 2021 on the ATV channel, he generated controversy with the metaphorical opinion he provided regarding his stance against abortion in rape cases. The words he mentioned were: "I am a hotelier. I have five-star hotels, for me to give a 5-star hotel as a home for a girl is to give her the most affection I can."

On February 19, 2021, the Special Electoral Jury (JEE) initiated a sanctioning process against the candidacy of Rafael López Aliaga for violating electoral propaganda regulations. This measure was approved because the applicant said that upon reaching the presidency "he will donate his salary to charitable organizations". He was temporarily disqualified from the presidential election on 25 February 2021 for alleged vote-buying based on his statement that if he was elected President, he will donate his salary to charity. Hernando de Soto, his political rival in the 2021 elections, appeared at the demonstration outside the JNE, where López Aliaga was, whom he praised.

On March 12, 2021, he presented his technical team, which included former ministers Alfonso Miranda Eyzaguirre, Carlos Herrera Descalzi, Alfonso Velásquez Tuesta, former Vice Minister Eduardo Ponce Vivanco, former Vice President of the Republic, Máximo San Román, the former parliamentarian Fabiola Morales, the former president of the Judiciary Javier Villa Stein, the former director general of the Police José Tisoc Lindley, among others.

2022 Lima mayoral election In the aftermath of the first round of the 2021 general election, López Aliaga confirmed his bid for mayor of Lima in the upcoming 2022 mayoral election.

Leading the polls early into the election, López Aliaga trailed behind former congressman and Interior minister, Daniel Urresti, who ran for a second time for the mayorship following his defeat to Jorge Muñoz at the 2018 Lima municipal election.

As part of his campaign, López Aliaga promised to fight crime with support of the reservists group of the Peruvian Armed Forces, in addition to calling for a radical reform of the capital's transportation system. His campaign was managed by former right-wing congressmen Julio Gagó and Renzo Reggiardo, with the latter running for lieutenant mayor.

At the election, Popular Renewal placed first by receiving 26.35% of the popular vote, claiming victory for López Aliaga, in addition winning twelve districts of the capital. In contrast to previous municipal elections, no winning candidate for mayor of Lima since 1963 had been elected by less than 30% of the vote, making him the least voted winner in the history of the capital.

In April 2023, an Ipsos poll showed that 49% of respondents disapproved of López Aliaga, compared to a 40% approval rate.

2026 Peruvian presidential election

In October 2025, López Aliaga resigned as mayor of Lima to campaign in the Peruvian general election scheduled for 12 April 2026. He was considered an early frontrunner in the presidential race.

The first round presidential election resulted in Keiko Fujimori and Roberto Sánchez Palomino will be going to the second round. Despite losing the presidential election, López-Aliaga was elected to the Senate for the nationwide constituency.

Following the first round, official results confirmed that neither López Aliaga nor other major candidates advanced to the runoff, which was contested between Keiko Fujimori and Roberto Sánchez Palomino. López Aliaga finished in third place nationally with 11.91% of the vote, as reflected in the final tally published by Peru’s electoral authorities.

With his elimination from the presidential race, López Aliaga did not proceed to the second round campaign and instead transitioned toward his elected position in the Senate for the nationwide constituency, scheduled to assume office in July 2026, as part of the broader congressional transition following the general election cycle.

Ideology and views

Observers have placed him as right-wing to far-right, and ideologically conservative. Rafael López Aliaga, a member of Opus Dei, regards himself as a "social Christian", saying that he maintains celibacy through daily self-flagellation with a chain cilice and thinking of the Virgin Mary. He opposes same-sex marriage, the use of contraceptives, the legalization of marijuana and abortion. He signed the document along with other right-wing politicians such as Javier Milei of Argentina, José Antonio Kast of Chile and Eduardo Bolsonaro of Brazil, the son of President Jair Bolsonaro. A month before elections, López Aliaga called for the removal of President Sagasti from office, raising concerns among presidential candidates that he was promoting a coup against the president. He was investigated by the Congress of Peru in 2001 regarding allegations of tax evasion. The Panama Papers scandal in 2017 mentioned López Aliaga as allegedly being involved with money laundering.

On 18 July 2021, the Public Ministry of Peru opened an investigation into Willax journalists Phillip Butters, Humberto Ortiz and Enrique Luna Victoria, alleging that they were responsible for acts of sedition and inciting civil unrest. Prosecutor Juana Meza wrote that Willax disseminated "news with a conspiratorial connotation, inciting the electoral results to be unknown, trying to weaken the electoral institutions and even calling for a coup d'état" and was used as a platform "to send messages of hatred and incitement to kill".

Electoral history

Year Office Type Party Main opponent Party Votes for López Aliaga Result Swing Total % . 2006 Lima Metropolitan Councilman Municipal National Unity Electoral Alliance Miguel Neumann Valenzuela National Restoration 1,960,588 (List) 47.82% 1st N/A Gain 2011 Congressman from Lima General National Solidarity Martha Hildebrandt Popular Force 11,877 11.46% 5th N/A N/A 2021 President of Peru General Popular Renewal Pedro Castillo Free Peru 1,692,279 11.75% 3rd N/A N/A 2022 Mayor of Lima Municipal Popular Renewal Daniel Urresti Podemos Perú 1,377,551 (List) 26.33% 1st N/A Gain 2026 President of Peru General Popular Renewal Roberto Sánchez Together for Peru 1,993,905 11.91% 3rd 0.16 Percentage gains