Renovation Popular leader Rafael López Arriaga said this Thursday that his appointment as mayor of Lima in January 2023 has “ruined my life,” but he resigned last October to run for president.
In an interview broadcast on his YouTube channel, the former mayor pointed out that with this new appointment, he would be putting aside his “freedoms”, just as he was when he took over the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima (MML).
“I screwed up my life for three years,” he said, noting that he nevertheless did it willingly. “People who have water, food and infrastructure give me joy. That gives me spiritual joy,” he said.
He also argued that solutions are many and the country has the resources. “There are many solutions, there is money. This is different from Argentina. In Argentina you can say there is no money, but in Peru there is money,” he added.
López Arriaga said he is participating as a candidate for the Senate, but denies the existence of the chamber and may not be sworn in even if he gets a favorable result. “I don’t need to, and I don’t want to. I get bored. To be honest, I get bored when I’m there. I’m a man of action, and I don’t like sitting in meetings. But I do it because there’s an element holding me back, and the reality is, they know.” “Porky,” he declared.
He reiterated that although he received the MML in complete bankruptcy, he managed to recover it in nine months with “no ghost employees, no consulting, no jams, no rental contracts, no cheated or triple inflated contracts”, which he said allowed him to save 1 billion soles annually.
In the same interview, he also mentioned the Lima-Chosica railway project, whose rolling stock remains in storage due to doubts about its technical feasibility.
“That won’t happen until July 28,” he predicted, assuring that the interim president’s management: Jose GeriAccording to his statement, it will give viability to this effort, which was blocked by a hypothetical adversary. Keiko Fujimori and Cesar Acuña.
The latest poll shows López Arriaga has the highest intention of voting, with 9% of Peruvians undecided or not planning to vote for any of the known primary candidates.
His management as mayor has been marked by numerous controversies, including the acquisition of rights that were scrapped by Congress. American Caltrain Corporation Because railway service was established within the capital without the necessary construction work being carried out beforehand, the locomotives and wagons were stored in city parks.
According to Encelona, The arrival of the train was not directly negotiated by MML, but was a process managed by a private company with a stake in the track on which the train would run.
Documents obtained in the United States show the total cost was more than $22 million, with executives from Ferrocaril Central Andino and the American company RDC leading the negotiations. caltrainthe former mayor was only copied into the email.
The correspondence revealed that even though the project was presented as a free donation, a private company defined the terms of the contract, controlled payments and prepared the final documents.
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