Luis Castañeda Lossio

Óscar Luis Castañeda Lossio (born 21 June 1945) is a Peruvian politician who was Mayor of Lima, the capital city of Peru, from 2003 to 2010. He became Mayor of Lima again in 2015, after being elected for a third nonconsecutive term with 51% of the popular vote, for a term that lasted until 31 December 2018. He ran for President of Peru in 2000 placing fifth, prior to his mayoral campaign, and in 2011, placing fifth again with 9% of the vote.

Luis Castañeda OSP
Mayor of Lima
In office 1 January 2015 – 31 December 2018
Preceded by	Susana Villarán
Succeeded by	Jorge Muñoz
In office 1 January 2003 – 11 October 2010
Preceded by	Alberto Andrade
Succeeded by	Marco Parra (interim)
Lima City Councilman
In office 1 January 1981 – 31 December 1986
President of National Solidarity
In office 5 May 1998 – 29 August 2020
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Rafael López Aliaga
Personal details
Born	21 June 1945 Chiclayo, Lambayeque, Peru
Political party	Independent (2020-present)
Other political affiliations	National Solidarity (1998-2020)
Spouse(s)	Rosario Pardo Arbulú
Children	2
Alma mater	Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (LL.B.) Centro de Altos Estudios Militares del Perú (M.A.)
Profession	Lawyer

He is under investigation in 2019 for alleged corruption in the context of a broad anti-corruption campaign following revelations in the Lava Jato scandal in Brazil. In particular, he is suspected of having favoured a Brazilian multinational civil engineering corporation (Grupo OAS) in exchange for bribes while serving as mayor of Lima.[1]

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 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 studied law at the Catholic University of Peru and he earned 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.[2] 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.[3][4]

In 2002, he participated in the elections for mayor with the National Unity , defeating incumbent Mayor Alberto Andrade of We Are Peru. 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.[5] 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 and stepped down on December 31, 2018.

While mayor of Lima, Castañeda attracted criticism for various policies that were seen as retrogressive attempts to erase the legacy of his predecessor. These included erasing murals commissioned by Villarán, undoing reforms she had made to Lima's public transit system, barring the public from city council meetings, and cancelling plans to remake the banks and neighborhoods along the Rimac River in downtown Lima into a new park, the so-called Rio Verde Project.[6] Following the cancellation of the Rio Verde project, one of the neighborhoods that would have been transformed (Cantagallo) was, instead, devastated by a fire in November 2016, which forced out hundreds of Shipibo-Konibo community members.[7]

As of January 2020, Castañeda remains the subject of investigations into wider allegations of corruption linked to the Brazilian construction firms Odebrecht and Grupo OAS.[8][9]

References

1. https://andina.pe/agencia/noticia-luis-castaneda-lossio-que-se-sabe-sobre-investigacion-al-exalcalde-769767.aspx
2. "Noticias".
3. "AllmediaNY".
4. "No alliances will be made with Lima Mayor Castañeda for upcoming 2011 presidential elections, says Simon". Peruvian Times. 17 August 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
5. "Lima, Peru's First Female Mayor Survives Recall Vote". Hispanically Speaking News. Archived from the original on 24 March 2013.
6. Tegel, Simeon (17 March 2015). "The mayor of Lima is getting compared to the Islamic State for painting over murals". Global Post. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
7. says, Philip Brown (5 November 2016). "Thousands homeless after fire destroys shantytown in downtown Lima". Perú Reports. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
8. PERÚ, Empresa Peruana de Servicios Editoriales S. A. EDITORA. "Peru: Ex-Lima Mayor Castañeda confirms OAS made contributions to 2014 campaign". andina.pe (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 January 2020.
9. Perú, Redacción El Comercio (31 January 2020). "Luis Castañeda: fiscalía pide 36 meses de prisión preventiva para el exalcalde de Lima". El Comercio Perú (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 January 2020.