Ricardo Belmont | |
---|---|
Member of the Congress | |
In office August 27, 2009 –July 26, 2011 | |
Preceded by | Alberto Andrade |
Constituency | Lima |
Mayor of Lima | |
In office January 1,1990 –December 31,1995 | |
Preceded by | Jorge Del Castillo |
Succeeded by | Alberto Andrade |
Personal details | |
Born | Ricardo Pablo Belmont Cassinelli 29 August 1945 Lima,Peru |
Nationality | Peruvian |
Political party | Independent |
Other political affiliations | Civil Works Movement Center Front (2006-2011) Popular Action (non-affiliated / 2006-2011) |
Spouse | María Mercedes Bazalar Pérez de Belmont |
Children | 5 |
Alma mater | University of Lima |
Ricardo Pablo Belmont Cassinelli (born 29 August 1945) is a Peruvian TV network owner and politician. He was the Mayor of Lima [1] serving from 1990 to 1995 and as a Congressman for the Center Front,representing Lima between 2009 and 2011,replacing Alberto Andrade,who died in office. He was popularly known as "El Hermanón" (Big Brother) for his friendliness and also as "El Colora'o" (Ginger) because of his reddish hair.
Ricardo Belmont is the son of Augusto Belmont Bar,who founded TV Bego Excelsior (Channel 11 in Peru) in 1967. TV Bego Excelsior also owned Excelsior FM radio (104.7 FM in Peru). The younger Belmont was an avid sportsman who enjoyed football and boxing,and was a patron of players in both sports. His sports passion would later influence him in his political speeches,using sporting terms such as "let's all kick into the same goal post",and,during his reelection bid,"Second half time is about to start,and it's works vs. words. Choose the tree (his electoral symbol) and we'll win the game." In his "serious" life,he dedicated himself to journalism,befriending several local and national politicians all the while aspiring to be his own man in the media business. In his spare time he also dedicated his life to worthy causes,the most prominent being the local Telethon (based on the American version by Jerry Lewis),dedicated to helping the disabled kids at the San Juan de Dios Clinic in Lima.
In 1986 he took over Channel 11 and renamed it Red Bicolor de Comunicaciones (Bicolor Communications Network;the initials RBC allude to his personal name). Initially airing only from noon to midnight,Belmont mostly purchased American programming such as Bonanza,Get Smart,Bravestarr,and The Twilight Zone (the 1985 version). The few RBC-produced shows included "Desafio Familiar",which was a Peruvian version of Family Feud,"Habla el Pueblo",a Larry King-inspired talk show with Belmont himself as host,and "Mirando la Música",a music video program. In the late 1980s RBC started diversifying to break out of the niche market to compete with the Peruvian Big Two,America Television and Panamericana Television. RBC Radio 980 AM was mostly sports talk,while 91.9 FM was adult contemporary,in addition to Excelsior,which was mostly tropical and salsa.
In late-1989,he announced his candidacy for the Lima provincial mayoralty as an independent. His political party,OBRAS (Works) alluded to the need for public works in Lima and the overall lack of progress as mayor by Jorge del Castillo,who was seen more as a lackey of Peruvian President Alan García than as an effective mayor. Although he supported Mario Vargas Llosa's Presidential candidacy,he chose to oppose Vargas Llosa's party's chosen mayoral candidate,Juan Inchaustegui. Belmont's charisma developed as a TV host and his lack of political affiliation helped him earn the people's vote,and he began to start his public-works program,which included several road and community improvement projects detailed below.
Initially Belmont and the new Peruvian President,Alberto Fujimori,were seen as comrades in arms because of their common political backgrounds as independents. The fiercely independent Belmont,however,drawing on his business skills,was able to get funds from several private enterprises to fund his programs.
Among the many public works projects he completed include:
Re-elected to a second term in 1993,Belmont and Fujimori had a falling out,due to resentment from Fujimori at Belmont's former support of Vargas Llosa. Fujimori,through his party-controlled Congress,issued Legislative Decree No. 776,by which provincial mayors were forced to distribute their government income down to the districtal halls under them (particularly from rich to poor distrital municipalities in the interior of the country). This stopped Belmont from pursuing further public works and improvements,and the municipal employees (most of whom were APRA party members left over from the Castillo administration) began turning against him through demonstrations,increasing his unpopularity. He ran for president in the 1995 general elections losing to incumbent President Fujimori and subsequently continued as Mayor of Lima declining to run for re-election in the 1995 Lima local elections and being replaced by Alberto Andrade. For the general elections of 2001,he was invited by the Independent Moralizing Front to run for the first vice-presidency on the presidential roster of Fernando Olivera,however,said presidential candidacy did not win in the elections and came in fourth place.
In the 2006 elections,he ran for Congress in the Lima constituency,as an invited candidate under the Centre Front coalition but he was not elected,but he was summoned to Congress in August 2009 as a replacement for Alberto Andrade (his successor as Mayor of Lima),who died in office and completed the latter's 2006–2011 term.
In November 2015,he agreed to be summoned to run for president of the Republic of Peru in the 2016 elections,by the Siempre Unidos party. [2] However,in January 2016 he announced his resignation from the presidential candidacy because he did not accept pressure on behalf of the party's founder,Felipe Castillo,so that Isaac Humala,the father of then-President Ollanta Humala would be part of the presidential shortlist.
In 2018 he was a candidate for mayor of Lima for the Peru Libertario party. Since 2019 he has become a YouTuber and on his channel he publishes videos analyzing topics such as local politics,geopolitics,progressivism and the popular president of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Union for Peru is a Peruvian political party founded by Javier Pérez de Cuéllar,an ex-UN Secretary General,in 1994 to run for the presidency of Peru in the 1995 general elections. Originally a social democratic party,the party became the main political home of the Peruvian ethnocacerist movement in the late-2010s after a group led by former Army Major Antauro Humala joined the party. Humala later formed the Patriotic Front in 2018 and contested the 2021 general elections.
Valentín Toribio Demetrio Agustin Paniagua Corazao was a Peruvian lawyer and politician who briefly served as 55th President of Peru from 2000 to 2001. Elected President of Congress on 16 November 2000,he ascended to the presidency as incumbent Alberto Fujimori and both his Vice Presidents resigned by 22 November 2000.
Antauro Igor Humala Tasso is a Peruvian ethnocacerist,a former army major,and nationalist leader.
The Independent Moralizing Front was a Peruvian political party. At the legislative elections,8 April 2001,the party won 11.0% of the popular vote and 11 out of 120 seats in the Congress of the Republic. Its presidential candidate at the elections of the same day,Luis Fernando Olivera Vega,won 9.9% of the vote. It was allied with former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo's party,Peru Possible.
The Odriist National Union,was a political party in Peru founded in 1961 by former President General Manuel A. Odría. The party had Julio de la Piedra amongst its leaders.
The Christian People's Party is a centre-right and conservative political party based on the principles of Christian democracy. It was founded in 1966 by Christian Democratic Party dissidents,led by Luis Bedoya Reyes,at the time mayor of Lima.
Lourdes Celmira Rosario Flores Nano is a Peruvian lawyer and politician who served as a councilwoman of Lima,Deputy from Lima from 1990 to 1992,Democratic Constituent Congresswoman from 1992 to 1995,Congresswoman from 1995 to 2000,and the Christian People's Party candidate for President of Peru in the 2001 and 2006 elections in which she ran under the National Unity.
Alberto Manuel Andrade Carmona was a Peruvian lawyer and politician,born in Lima who served as the Mayor of Lima from 1996 to 2002 and as a Congressman from 2006 until his death.
The Democratic Party "We Are Peru" is a Christian democratic political party in Peru. It has party committees in nineteen regions of the country.
The Centre Front,was a Peruvian political coalition formed by the parties Acción Popular (AP),Somos Perú(PDSP) and Coordinadora Nacional de Independientes (CNI) for the 2006 national election. Its leader and presidential candidate was the late Peruvian former president Valentín Paniagua Corazao but following his sudden death on October 16,2006 the coalition was headed by President of the Acción Popular party,Víctor Andrés García Belaúnde. The alliance was unsuccessful in the presidential race,placing 5th. At the legislative elections held on 9 April 2006,the party won 7.1% of the popular vote and only 5 out of 120 seats in the Congress of the Republic.
Ollanta Moisés Humala Tasso is a Peruvian politician and former military officer who served as President of Peru from 2011 to 2016. Originally a socialist and left-wing nationalist,he is considered to have shifted towards neoliberalism and the political centre during his presidency.
Jorge Alfonso Alejandro del Castillo Gálvez is a Peruvian lawyer and politician. In his career,he has served in the now abolished Peruvian Chamber of Deputies between 1990 and 1992,in the unicameral Congress of the Republic for six non-consecutive terms,between 1995 and 2011 and again from 2016 to 2019,five of which are consecutive terms,and as Mayor of Lima and the District of Barranco during the 1980s.
National Solidarity Party,was a conservative Peruvian political party. Founded in 1998 for the 2000 general election to support the candidacy of Luis Castañeda Lossio,a former Lima City Council member from Popular Action. Following the end of Alberto Fujimori's regime,the party formed the National Unity coalition with the Christian People's Party and other minor parties. Led by Lourdes Flores,the coalition placed third at the 2001 and 2006 general elections,while at municipal level,it won the capital city of Lima with Castañeda as the mayoral nominee.
Guido Ricardo Lombardi Elías is a Peruvian journalist,lawyer,and politician of Italian descent.
Clemente Jaime Yoshiyama Tanaka is a Peruvian Fujimorist politician of Japanese descent. He was the President of the Democratic Constitutional Congress from December 1992 to July 1995. He was also the Minister of the Presidency during the administration of President Alberto Fujimori.
General elections were held in Peru on 10 April 2011 to elect the President,the Vice Presidents,130 members of Congress and five members of the Andean Parliament. As no presidential candidate received a majority in the first round,a second round was held on 5 June to determine the successor of outgoing president Alan García. Former army officer Ollanta Humala narrowly defeated Keiko Fujimori,daughter of imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori. Humala was sworn in as the 94th President of Peru on 28 July.
Rafael Rey Rey is a Peruvian engineer,political commentator and politician who currently serves as member of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru Board of Directors since 2016. Throughout his political life,he served in the Peruvian Congress from 1990 to 2006 and as a Representative to the Andean Parliament from 2006 to 2016. During the Second presidency of Alan García,he was appointed Minister of Production,Ambassador to Italy and Minister of Defense.
Máximo San Román Cáceres is a Peruvian mechanical engineer,businessman and former politician. He was President of Peru between 1992 and 1993,a term that was marked by the authoritarian government of Alberto Fujimori. Considered the legal Head of State during Fujimori's ruling by decree of his self-coup,he did not hold real power.
On 24 December 2017,the President of Peru,Pedro Pablo Kuczynski,pardoned jailed ex-president Alberto Fujimori. Because the pardon was granted on Christmas Eve,it became known as the "indulto de Navidad".
General elections were held in Peru on 11 April 2021. The presidential election,which determined the president and the vice presidents,required a run-off between the two top candidates,which was held on 6 June. The congressional elections determined the composition of the Congress of Peru,with all 130 seats contested.