Alfredo Barnechea
Isaac Alfredo Barnechea García is a Peruvian journalist and politician. In 2016 he ran for President of Peru with Acción Popular, finishing in fourth place. Currently, he is among the potential candidates for the 2021 Peruvian general election.
As a journalist, he hosted the television interview program titled "Direct Contact", which ran from 1978 to 1983. The show was overseen by the military dictatorship until 1980. Since then, he has been a columnist for the Spanish newspaper El País, the Peruvian magazine Caretas and has written six books about Peruvian politics and political economy.
Barnechea was member of the APRA party. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Lima in 1983, losing to the left-wing candidate Alfonso Barrantes Lingán. Barnechea was elected to Peru's Congress from 26 July 1985 during the government of President Alan García. He resigned the party after García announced plans to nationalize the banks in 1987.
In 1992, he earned a Master's in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. After obtaining his degree, he worked at the Inter-American Development Bank and the Andean Community.
In 2013, Barnechea joined the Popular Action party and was later selected as that party's presidential candidate for the 2016 elections. He rose second in the polls after the disqualifications of Julio Guzmán and César Acuña Peralta. He ended the election in fourth place with 6.7% of the popular vote, above APRA candidate Alan García, but surpassed by Veronika Mendoza, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Keiko Fujimori.
Barnechea is married to Claudia Ganoza Temple, the step daughter of former United Nations Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar. They have three children.
