Luis Castañeda Lossio

Luis Castañeda
Metropolitan Mayor of Lima
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 January 2015
Preceded by	Susana Villarán
In office 1 January 2003 – 11 October 2010
Preceded by	Alberto Andrade
Succeeded by	Marco Parra
Personal details
Born	(1945-06-21) June 21, 1945 Chiclayo, Lambayeque
Political party	National Solidarity (Peru)
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Roman Catholic

Óscar Luis Castañeda Lossio (born June 21, 1945) is a Peruvian politician who was Mayor of Lima, Peru, from 2003 to 2010. He became Mayor of Lima again in 2015, after being elected for a third nonconsecutive term with a 51% of popular vote, that lasts until December 2018. He ran for President of Peru in 2000, prior to his municipal reign, and in 2011, obtaining the fifth place with 9%.

Life and politics

Castañeda, who was born in Chiclayo and lived in the Casa Castañeda, is the son of Carlos Castañeda Iparraguirre and Ida Lossio. His father is remembered as one of the most important mayors of Chiclayo. As a little child he used to inspect with his father the works in progress at the city. From his marriage with Rosario Pardo, he has two sons: Luis Castañeda Pardo and Darío Castañeda Pardo.

He was trained as a lawyer at the Catholic University of Peru, he got a master's degree at the Centro de Altos Estudios Militares del Perú. In Sweden and Mexico he got a Professional Diploma in Management. In 1981, he started as a member of Popular Action party, working with many of the former mayors of Lima such as Alfonso Barrantes Lingán.

Between 1990-1996, during Fujimori's government, he was the President of the National Institute of Public Health IPPS, now known as ESSALUD. He had also a controversial participacion in La Caja del Pescador, an entity that works in benefit of the fishermen.^[1] In 2000, he ran as a candidate of his own party National Solidarity Party, in the presidential elections, but failed to make it to the run-off elections.^[2][3]

In 2002, he participated in the elections for mayor with the National Unity Party, defeating Mayor Alberto Andrade. Castañeda started out as a very popular mayor, with a popularity index close to 79%. He won re-election as the city's mayor in November 2006 with 48% of the vote.

In 2011, SN (led by Luis Castañeda Lossio) decided to run for the presidency. Nevertheless, and unsuccessfully, they only managed to gather around 9.5% of the votes.

On March 15, 2013 audio recordings leaked to the press were broadcast over national television revealing that Luis Castañeda Lossio was indeed in charge of the campaign to recall Lima's first female Mayor, Susana Villaran.^[4] Before the leaks Castañeda Lossio had publicly denied his involvement in the recall process.

In 2014, he ran for Mayor of Lima, winning the election by a landslide on October 5, over rival and incumbent Susana Villarán in third place (10%), and surprisingly, 18% for APRA candidate Enrique Cornejo. He assumed office on January 1, 2015.

Castañeda has attracted criticism for various policies that seen as retrogressive attempts to erase the legacy of his predecessor. These include erasing murals commissioned by Villarán, undoing reforms she had made to Lima's public transit system, and barring the public from city council meetings.^[5] Indigenous people In Lima fear that they may also be evicted from homes that Villarán had given them.^[6]

References