Portside

With her hippyish air, easy smile and penchant for

flowing scarves, Susana Villarán might have looked to

her opponents like a soft touch. But from the moment

she became Lima's first female mayor two years ago, she

has upset the status quo, taking on vested interests

and shaking up a city that is home to one third of

Peru's 30 million people.



So robust has she been in taking on rackets and cartels

that operate the much-maligned transport system and

wholesale markets that she has made enough enemies to

threaten her tenure: later this month, voters will be

balloted on whether to remove the mayor halfway through

her term.



A charismatic career human rights activist, Villarán,

63, has nonetheless failed to win over a sizeable

portion of Lima residents. Current polls indicate that

a slight majority favour removing her, although her

backers include the former UN secretary general, Javier

Pérez de Cuéllar, the Peruvian president, Ollanta

Humala, intellectuals and even the political party of

Lourdes Flores, the opponent she beat to the mayoral

office.



But the opposition was there from the beginning,

Villarán says. She had barely sat in the mayoral seat

before her political enemies were plotting her

downfall: "I was not invited to the party, I was not

the one who was supposed to be in the mayor's office,"

she said.



Fernando Tuesta, a politics professor at Lima's La

Católica University, agrees. "She'd barely won when

groups, political parties and sectors of the media

began a campaign against her," he said. But he adds

that Villarán, the leader of the tiny Fuerza Social

(Social Force) party, "didn't build the necessary

political alliances, leaving her very isolated".



Villarán insists she didn't want to use her term as a

"trampoline for the presidency. I didn't come into

politics to behave like that." That is why, she says,

she did not shy away from tackling the city's thorniest

issues. The public transport network is dominated by

ramshackle buses known as "combis", which weave across

lanes of traffic belching black diesel fumes and

stopping wherever they like. About 300,000 taxi cabs

further clog up Lima's arteries.



"It's really a necessity for Lima after three decades

of absolute informality, disorder and chaos to impose

some order," she said. She is trying to get bus drivers

who work long hours with no benefits and are paid

according to the number of passengers to accept fixed

salaries. Taxi ranks will be installed to reduce

congestion.



Villarán also pushed ahead with a move that the city's

mayors have shied away from for decades: relocating the

Parada wholesale market, which resulted in deadly

clashes with the police in October. Neither of these

moves has made her popular with the estimated 70% of

Peruvians who work in the unregulated, informal sector.

There is also growing impatience to see infrastructure

improvements, particularly in the city's poorer,

outlying neighbourhoods.



"Lima is paralysed, there are no concrete public works,

no successful social programmes and crime is up," says

Shadia Valdez, 24, a lawyer campaigning in the yellow

colours of the campaign to remove Villarán.



Marco Tulio Gutiérrez, a lawyer who has become the face

of the anti-Villarán campaign, has capitalised on the

perceived lack of construction: "The public disapproval

for her mandate shows that people want physical public

works. That's what a city like Lima needs. This lady

has done absolutely nothing, just words, words, words,"

he said.



Villarán's supporters accuse Gutiérrez of being a

frontman for her predecessor, Luis Castañeda, who left

office with 85% approval after building joint public-

private hospitals and hundreds of stairways in the

city's poor outlying hillsides. Villarán insists she

has invested more in infrastructure than Castañeda but

admits "errors" in failing to publicise them.



In the poor district of Villa María del Triunfo, where

from a distance the homes look like multicoloured

confetti scattered on an anthill, support for Villarán

grows as walls and stairways are built. A park is also

planned. "Neighbourhoods like ours have always been

forgotten but Miss Susana is moving forward with the

works," said resident Juana de la Sota, 67. "She's

working out of love for the people, not out of love for

her pocket! Let her finish the good works she's doing."



In neighbouring Villa el Salvador, community leader

Tony Palomino also supports Villarán. "This is a battle

between honesty and corruption. It's that simple," he

said.



Coming into office, Villarán sought corruption charges

against Castañeda. The former mayor is alleged to have

diverted $10m in public funds into a phantom company.

No charges have been brought.



She has also enraged religious conservatives in the

Catholic and evangelical churches by supporting gay

rights and bringing in a bylaw prohibiting

discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and

transgender community (LGBTs).



Faced with losing her job, Villarán realises she has

stepped on a lot of political toes but, apart from

having better communication, she says she would not

have done anything differently.



"I wanted to build a Lima that was more fair and just,"

she reflects. "Perhaps it was too idealistic to want to

be part of a process of transformation for the city."



• This article was initially illustrated with an image

of Villarán's rival, Lourdes Flores. This has been

recitified.



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