Luis Castañeda

Castañeda, who was born in Chiclayo and lived in the Casa Castañeda, was the son of Carlos Castañeda Iparraguirre and Ida Lossio. His father is remembered as having been one of the most important mayors of Chiclayo. As a child he used to inspect with his father the works in progress in the city. From his marriage with Rosario Pardo, he has two sons: Luis Castañeda Pardo and Darío Castañeda Pardo.

He 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 began his political career as a member of Popular Action party, working with many of the past mayors of Lima such as Alfonso Barrantes Lingán.

Between 1990 and 1996, during the presidency of Alberto Fujimori, he was the President of the National Institute of Public Health IPPS, now known as ESSALUD. He also had a controversial participation in La Caja del Pescador, an entity that works to benefit fishermen.[3]

During the last months of his administration as Lima Mayor (2003–2010), he received serious accusations of illicit enrichment and corruption in the case of "Comunicore".[6] He has also been criticized for the delay in construction and the cost overrun of his El Metropolitano transportation project, whose budget multiplied, and whose completion occurred in 2010, despite the fact that its inauguration was scheduled for the year 2005. Months after having received these accusations, the Judicial Power in charge of Nelly Mercedes Aranda Cañote, decided not to include the former mayor of Lima in the Comunicore case because the Prosecutor's Office provided sufficient evidence of the agreement with the aforementioned company to economically harm the municipality.

He has also been criticized for the inclusion of his name in a large part of the works made during his tenure for political purposes, a fact that he has justified by stating that "you must know who did the work."[7][8][9]

In September 2011, he was included in the process for the irregular payment of 35.9 million nuevos soles to a "ghost company" during his tenure as mayor of Lima. The former mayor presented a Habeas corpus against this measure, but finally in January 2012, the 12th Criminal Court of Lima ordered that Castañeda Lossio must be prosecuted for this case.[10][11]

On 15 March 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.[12] Before the leaks Castañeda Lossio had publicly denied his involvement in the recall process.

In May 2014, the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office initiated an investigation into Castañeda Lossio for the improper collection of 200,000 new soles in the years he was mayor of Lima.[13]

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.[14] 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.[15]

Castañeda died from cardiopulmonary arrest in Lima, on 12 January 2022 at the age of 76.[18]