LIMA – Peruvian Rafael López Aliaga, an ultra-conservative member of Opus Dei who practices celibacy and says he uses a bag to keep his physical desires under control, has a good chance of becoming the next president of the Andean country.
The 60-year-old man took a leap in recent opinion polls ahead of the April 11 first round vote and is firmly within a group of candidates who can force a second round with favorite populist Yonhy Lescano.
López Aliaga, a financier and railroad magnate, said that his first action as president would be to expel Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, at the center of graft drilling in the region that dragged several former Peruvian leaders.
“Odebrecht leaves Peru on July 28,” López Aliaga told Reuters at his party’s headquarters in Lima, referring to the day when the next president will take office at the world’s second largest copper producer. He added that he will request a fine from the company and try to confiscate all of his remaining assets in Peru.
Odebrecht has admitted bribing employees across Latin America in the past, but recently said it has been transformed and will be strictly guided by ethics.
López Aliaga also said that he would reduce government bureaucracy by reducing the number of ministries from the current 19 to nine and get rid of what he called “parasites” that were enriching with the state.
His strident anti-elitist views led to comparisons with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, which López Aliaga rejected.
“Bolsonaro insults the gay community, I am inclusive, the community should be welcome, as Pope Francis says,” he said.
López Aliaga told Reuters he is opposed to gay marriage, although he supports a “solidarity pact” to protect same-sex couples. “Marriage, however, must have a mother and a father,” he said.
A member of the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei, he is also against abortion and said that even in cases where women become pregnant after being raped, they should not be allowed to abort, but should be taken to shelters and the baby to find adoptive parents. , if necessary.
“A little mortification for God”
In a recent radio interview, López Aliaga said that he suppresses his sexual desire by thinking of the Virgin Mary and shakes himself with a cilice, a sackcloth with points that stick to his body, a practice of primitive Christianity.
“Christ suffered so much that wearing a hair shirt is certainly not painful. In my case, I already have calluses, 40 years old, you can imagine, ”he told broadcaster Exitosa.
“But it is a small mortification for God and for men … I do this alone, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, to join the cross of Christ.”
If elected, López Aliaga said he hoped to use Peru’s largely untapped lithium deposits to attract investments from big names like automaker Tesla, including a “high-tech free zone” in Puno, near the Bolivian border.
In line with favorite Lescano, he said he would also seek to reduce domestic gas prices by renegotiating a contract with Pluspetrol in Argentina and promoting negotiations with Bolivia over a gas pipeline to import cheaper gas.
Almost half of Peru’s energy consumption comes from natural gas, including a large reserve in the Andean region of Camisea, operated by Pluspetrol.
“It cannot be that Camisea sells LPG (liquefied gas) at international prices, if it is Peruvian raw material. With Camisea, yes, we will review it, ”he said.
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