Conservative Tycoon ‘Porky’ Leads Peru’s Presidential Race

Article content

(Bloomberg) — A conservative tycoon and devout Catholic who made his fortune running luxury hotels and trains is among the frontrunners to be Peru’s next president, pledging to crack down on abortion, crime and migration.

Article content

Rafael López Aliaga, who has embraced the nickname ‘Porky’ after his round face and prominent rosy cheeks, is leading the field of more than 30 candidates in several polls ahead of elections next month. 

Article content

Article content

The former Mayor of Lima and Citibank executive is one of Peru’s richest citizens, having claimed to be worth more than $1 billion, though often seeks to present himself as a man battling elites on behalf of the poor. His calls to close whole ministries and dramatically cut the size of the state recall Argentina’s President Javier Milei, who brandished a chainsaw while campaigning to symbolize his plans to slash spending. 

Article content

Article content

López Aliaga has vowed to send criminals deep into the Amazon, where venomous snakes would prevent their escape, and introduce the death penalty for rapists, extortionists and corrupt officials. He also wants to expel many of the 1.7 million Venezuelan migrants who have moved to Peru in recent years. 

Article content

Article content

As a member of the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei, he says he practices self-flagellation and celibacy, and has called for ID cards to be issued to unborn babies as part of his anti-abortion agenda. He has said that when he sees a good-looking woman, he reflects on how much more beautiful the Virgin Mary is.

Article content

On the economy, he says he would slash bureaucracy and fiscal spending, cut lawmakers’ salaries and reduce ministries to a maximum of six. He has also called for state oil company Petróleos del Perú SA to be privatized to workers.  

Article content

“The state is going to be really tiny, almost nothing will remain,” he said in a recent speech. 

Article content

A win by López Aliaga, 65, would extend a run of victories by pro-Washington candidates across Latin America, following recent wins for conservatives in Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras and Chile. Most polls show him with about 10%-12%, making him neck and neck with three-times presidential runner-up Keiko Fujimori, another religious conservative. 

Article content

Article content

López Aliaga attended US President Donald Trump’s inauguration last year, and has proposed allowing US forces to intervene in Peru to dismantle criminal gangs. 

Article content

Brash Style

Article content

His attacks on some corporations, especially Brookfield Asset Management, and his adoption of the Looney Tunes cartoon character Porky Pig as his campaign emblem have helped distinguish him from the nation’s traditional conservative class. The businessman’s brash style resembles Trump’s, and he says he wants to “make Peru great again” and save it from “lying, murderous and thieving” leftists. 

Article content

“He has slightly broken the mold of the Peruvian right-wing candidate,” said political scientist Eduardo Dargent. “He instead shows himself as someone who, more in tune with the spirit of the times, breaks rules to get things done.”

Article content

If he wins, his ability to implement any of his plans will largely depend on whether he can make alliances in the notoriously corrupt and dysfunctional congress, which will return to bicameralism for the first time in over three decades.

Article content

In a nation where contempt for politicians is widespread, some polls show that about a third of the electorate don’t back any of the contenders. If no candidate gets more than 50% on April 12, there will be a June runoff.