Alberto Andrade

Alberto Manuel Andrade Carmona (Lima, December 24, 1943-Washington D.C., June 19, 2009) was a Peruvian lawyer, businessman, and politician. He was the founder of the Somos Perú Democratic Party and was mayor of Lima during the periods 1995-1998 and 1998-2002.He was also a congressman of the Republic from 2006 until his death in 2009.

Biography

He was born in Lima, Barrios Altos, on December 24, 1943. Son of Alberto Andrade Blanco (Lieutenant in the Peruvian Army) and Delicia Carmona Castillo (Teacher).

She spent her childhood between two churches: El Carmen de Lima, where every July 15 she looked out of the Monastery Gate to see her Virgen del Carmen come out, and the Iglesia del Prado, where the cream of Peruvian criollismo is found.

He studied at the National College of Peru of Our Lady of Guadalupe and at the Antonio Raimondi Italian College. He later studied law at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.

He studied his postgraduate degree obtaining a Master's degree in Administration from ESAN. He created the leather goods company ALDA.

He married Ana Botteri Herrera where they had 4 children and 4 grandchildren.

Political life

He was a member of the Popular Christian Party.

In the municipal elections of 1983, he was elected Municipal Councilor of Miraflores for the Popular Christian Party.

Miraflores Mayor

In the 1989 general elections, he was elected Mayor of Miraflores by FREDEMO for the 1989-1992 municipal term.

In the 1993 municipal elections, he was re-elected Mayor of Miraflores by the Popular Christian Party for the 1992-1995 municipal term.

During his work in the municipality, he carried out several works in the district such as the remodeling of the Central Park and summoned a body of security men called the municipal serenazgo, already established by Carlos Neuhaus in San Isidro when the latter was mayor, to fight crime in the 1990s, while the National Police was in charge of fighting terrorism. His energetic management managed to free Miraflores from the progressive deterioration that the district had been suffering.

In 1992, Andrade, along with other members of the Popular Christian Party, resigned from that party after disagreements with some members. However, Andrade decides to found his own party & # 39; & # 39; We are Lima & # 39; & # 39; with a view to the municipal elections of 1995.

Mayor of Lima (1996-1998)

In the 1995 municipal elections, he was elected Mayor of Lima by Somos Lima, defeating the pro-government candidate Jaime Yoshiyama. Andrade took office in 1996 for the municipal term until 1998.

During his period in the Municipality, he carried out large public works such as the Javier Prado Expressway, the remodeling of parks and squares; the creation of the Tax Administration System, SAT, in charge of the collection of municipal taxes with which other important works could be carried out; the creation of the MuniOficios system, making it easy to hire hundreds of independent workers such as plumbers, carpenters, painters, bricklayers, among others.

She organized the neighbors of Plaza Italia to encourage the consumption of Peruvian stews, giving them the facility to sell their products on public roads through the Peruvian Food Festivals, which later spread to other squares and other districts of the capital.

An important cultural management plan began, which included the creation of the Visual Arts Center of the Municipality of Lima, founded by Luis Lama and in charge of carrying out the Lima Biennials (Ibero-American Biennial of Lima and the National Biennial of Lima), as well as the Performing Arts Center, founded by Karin Elmore and which carried out the Lima International Dance and Theater Festival. This cultural management plan was deactivated in the administration of Luis Castañeda Lossio, who squandered everything that had been built to date and that made Lima a relevant cultural center in Latin America, although there was an attempt during the administration of the mayor Susana Villarán to reactivate culture in the city.

He also began the recovery of the Balconies of Lima with the picturesque proposal of "Adopt a Balcony", with which many important companies took charge of its recovery.

The greatest achievement of his management, and for what he will always be remembered, was for the recovery of the Historic Center of Lima, restoring its colonial splendor and tourist attraction, after decades of abandonment, contamination and disorderly street trade.

This successful management of Andrade was done without any support from the central government, since President Alberto Fujimori from the first day of municipal management, refused to collaborate with Mayor Andrade in any activity he carried out, this was due to Fujimori did not accept that Andrade was able to win the Fujimori candidate Jaime Yoshiyama, in whom the government invested huge amounts of money from the national treasury, Fujimori sought a way to boycott Andrade at all times (as he did with Ricardo Belmont Cassineli at issue D.L 776), when Andrade orchestrated the great eviction of street vendors from downtown Lima, Fujimori ordered the PNP to defend the street vendors and attack the serenazgo and the municipal police. The success of Andrade's administration made him "political enemy number 1" of the Fujimori government.

Mayor of Lima (1998-2002)

In the elections in Lima in 1998, he was re-elected Mayor of Lima for Somos Perú for another term in the Municipality, defeating Juan Carlos Hurtado Miller, who represented the Fujimorist group Vamos Vecino.

Making a synthesis of some of the most important projects undertaken in its municipal management, the following could be highlighted:

• Metropolitan Planning and Budget System
• Medium-term Metropolitan Development Plan 1998-2002
• Establishment of the Tax Administration Service (SAT)
• Privatization of the Clean and Waste Picking Service in Lima (ReLima)
• Institutionalization of the Body of Municipal Security Men (Serenazgo)
• Recovery of the Lima Historic Center and systematic removal of ambulances
• Reorganization, formalization and registration of outpatient trade
• Restructuring and Integration of the Exhibition Park and Reserve Park
• Remodeling and commercial value of Plaza San Martín, Plaza Italia, Plaza Ramón Castilla, Paseo de los Heroes Navales, Parque Universitario
• Integral restoration of the Plaza de Armas and rename to Plaza Mayor
• Plan "Adopte un Balcón" and Restoration of Casonas in coordination with the Patronato de Lima
• Creation of the Ibero-American Biennial of Lima and the National Biennial of Lima
• Culmination of the By-pass construction of the Higuereta
• Construction of the Vial Ring Caqueta-Evitation
• Construction of the Express Way of Avenue Javier Prado
• Reorganization of the Metropolitan Taxi Service (Setame "Taxi Amarillo")
• Proposed Integrated Public Transport System Lima Bus (Metropolitan Partial)

Candidate for the Presidency in 2000

In the 2000 general elections, Andrade announced his presidential candidacy for his Somos Perú party, but a smear campaign organized by the media close to the dictatorial government of Alberto Fujimori and managed by his adviser Vladimiro Montesinos, allowed him to obtain only 3% of the votes (it should be noted that at the end of the first round, he symbolically withdrew his candidacy to support the candidacy of Alejandro Toledo and thus form a political front against the then candidate and later President Alberto Fujimori).

Candidate for Mayor in 2002

In the 2002 municipal elections, Andrade ran again for a third term in Lima, proposing to put into operation a system of rapid buses known as Lima Bus, similar to the Transmilenio in Bogotá, Colombia. Andrade lost the elections to Luis Castañeda Lossio, from the National Unity alliance who proposed the construction of a train. Castañeda's victory over Andrade had as its main cause a social approach of both candidates, while Andrade was recognized for his work in the recovery of the Center of Lima, Cercado and his projects to modernize the city, this approach was more shared by the sectors "traditional" of Lima, that is, the mesocratic districts (such as Pueblo Libre, Lince, etc) and residential districts (San Isidro, Miraflores, etc), Castañeda instead focused his campaign on the "emerging Lima", the Lima of the informal and popular workers (districts like La Victoria, El Agustino, etc) the Lima of the peripheries (the so-called "conos", districts like San Juan de Miraflores or Carabayllo), promising them social, welfare, etc In the end the second approach was successful.

However, the train was not built and in his second term, Castañeda built the bus system proposed by Andrade, under the name of Metropolitano.

First Vice Presidential Candidate in 2006

For the 2006 general elections, Andrade announced his candidacy for the 1st vice presidency of the Republic on the presidential ticket of former President Valentín Paniagua, where his party made an alliance with Acción Popular and the Coordinadora Nacional de Independientes, thus forming the Frente of Center, however the candidacy was in 4th place of preferences.

Congressman

In the same elections, Andrade was elected Congressman for the Center Front, with 131,178 preferential votes, for the 2006-2011 parliamentary term.

Discography

His great love of music was not unrelated to his municipal management, first in the Municipality of Miraflores (1990-1996) and the Municipality of Lima (1996-2002). Following his two musical productions, which he worked together with Augusto Polo Campos, Jorge & # 34; El Carreta & # 34; Pérez, Edith Barr, the Band of Musicians of the Municipality of Miraflores, Bartola, Óscar Avilés, Arturo "Zambo" Cavero, among others.

• Canta Miraflores (1992)
• The Dream of Lima (1998)

Death

In early 2009, due to pulmonary fibrosis, Andrade continually traveled to the United States for medical treatment. However, on June 19 of the same year, Alberto Andrade died at the age of 65 at 11:40 p.m. in Washington D.C. His body was repatriated and after being veiled at the Municipal Palace of Lima, where a tribute was paid to him, He was transferred to the Jardines de la Paz Cemetery in La Molina, where he was cremated, the ashes were thrown into the sea on the Totoritas beach in Mala.