He calls himself “Porky,” the name of a pig in a cartoon created by Warner Bros., just to appeal to Peruvians: a shy, stuttering pig, wearing a red bow tie. But Rafael López Aliaga, a representative of the populist right with authoritarian tendencies, has a more vengeful character: he spends his time destroying “internal enemy”, everyone associated with the progressive left, increased the number of outrageous statements and frequently attacked journalists, starting with the most famous of them, 77-year-old Gustavo Gorriti, known for his investigations into corruption. On September 9, during a public event, Rafael López Aliaga asked his audience to do so “Get rid of this guy once and for all.”
A member of Opus Dei – the ultraconservative sect of the Catholic Church –, López Aliaga, a millionaire businessman, threw in his hat as mayor of Lima (2023-2025), population 10.5 million, in late October, to run in the April 12, 2026 presidential election. In 2021, in the first round of voting, he came third. This time, in a fragmented political landscape and facing 40 candidates, he led the election with his slogan: “Christ, family and freedom”.
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