1.
Senate of Chile
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The Senate of the Republic of Chile is the upper house of Chiles bicameral National Congress, as established in the current Constitution of Chile. According to the present Constitution of Chile, the Senate is composed of thirty-eight directly elected senators and these serve eight-year terms, with half of them being replaced every fourth year. They must be eligible to vote, have completed school, or its equivalent. The Senate sessions at the new National Congress located in the city of Valparaíso that replaced the old National Congress located in downtown Santiago. Previously, according to the Constitution of 1980, designated or institutional senators were appointed to the chamber, two former heads of state, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle and Augusto Pinochet, were installed as senators for life. Pinochet later resigned from position and Frei lost his seat in the 2005 reform. However, Frei remained in the Senate by winning an elective seat, the Senate of Chile was created in 1812 to support the formulations of policies of the Government Junta. Since then it has undergone several constitutional reorganizations that have altered the scope of its powers, its composition. Created by Article 7 of the Provisional Constitutional Manual of 1812 and it was composed of seven titular members and three alternate members and was supposed to serve as a counterbalance to the executive power of the Government Junta. The senators were nominated by the provinces in agreement with the central government. It functioned from November,1812 to January,1814, when it was reorganized to better respond to the problems caused by the military defeats at the hands of the advancing Spanish Army. Created by Article 13 of the Provisional Government Manual of 1814, as its predecessor, it was composed of seven titular members nominated by the provinces in lists of three from which they were selected by the Supreme Director. It functioned from March to July,1814, when the Spanish Army captured Santiago, created by Title III of the Constitution of 1818. It was composed of five members and five alternate members selected directly by the Supreme Director. Key to Senate classes by regions, Class 1 consists of, Class 2 consists of, -the 20 current senators whose seats expire in March 2022
2.
Cabinet (government)
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A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the top leaders of the executive branch. They are usually called ministers, but in some jurisdictions are sometimes called secretaries, in some countries, the cabinet is called Council of Ministers or Government Council or lesser known names such as Federal Council, Inner Council or High Council. These countries may differ in the way that the cabinet is used or established, in some countries, particularly those that use a parliamentary system, the Cabinet collectively decides the governments direction, especially in regard to legislation passed by the parliament. In this way, the President gets opinions and advice in upcoming decisions, instead, it is usually the Head of Government who holds all means of power in his hands and the Cabinet reports to him. In most governments, members of the Cabinet are given the title of minister, in a few governments, as in the case of Mexico, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and United States, the title of secretary is also used for some Cabinet members. In many countries, a Secretary is a member with an inferior rank to a minister. In some countries attorneys general also sit in the cabinet, while in others this is strictly prohibited as the attorneys general are considered to be part of the judicial branch of government. The size of cabinets varies, although most contain around ten to twenty ministers, researchers have found an inverse correlation between a countrys level of development and cabinet size, on average, the more developed a country is, the smaller is its cabinet. In the United Kingdom and its colonies, cabinets began as smaller sub-groups of the English Privy Council, the term comes from the name for a relatively small and private room used as a study or retreat. The process has repeated itself in recent times, as leaders have felt the need to have a Kitchen Cabinet or sofa government, under the Westminster system, members of the cabinet are Ministers of the Crown who are collectively responsible for all government policy. All ministers, whether senior and in the cabinet or junior ministers, must publicly support the policy of the government, the cabinet may also provide ideas on/if new laws were established, and what they include. Cabinet deliberations are secret and documents dealt with in cabinet are confidential, in theory the prime minister or premier is first among equals. In some countries, the ministers are referred to as spokespersons. A prime ministerial government is a government where the minister is dominant in terms of the executive. As the prime minister is, by definition, a member of a cabinet – this form of government is often a development from cabinet government, in true cabinet government the prime minister is primus inter pares, where prime ministerial government necessitates the crossing of this boundary. An often cited example of ministerial government is the United Kingdom. Thatcher began using bilateral meetings with ministers to determine policy areas using cabinet to simply announce these decisions. Due to the extent of her success, and her control over cabinet positions, despite John Major moving back towards cabinet government, Tony Blair carried on Thatchers approach
3.
President of Chile
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The President of the Republic of Chile is the head of state and the head of government of the Republic of Chile. The President is responsible for government and state administration. It is also considered as one of the institutions that make up the Historic Constitution of Chile, under the current Constitution, the President is elected to serve for a period of four years, with immediate re-election being prohibited. The shorter period allows for parliamentary and presidential elections to be synchronized, the official seat of the President of Chile is the La Moneda Palace in the capital Santiago. The Constitution of 1980 and its amendments, establishes the requirements for becoming President. Originally the President must be a citizen of the country. The President must also be at least 35 years old, in addition, all the requirements for becoming a Senator apply. The president must meet all the requirements to qualify as a fully Chilean citizen with the right to vote and those are who have reached the age of eighteen years and who have never been sentenced to afflicting punishment. The loss of the right to vote is the main disqualification for the applicant, in the 2005 constitutional reform, some of these requirements were changed, The President now must have the Chilean nationality. The President must also be at least 35 years old, article 26 detail the electoral requirements. The President shall be elected by ballot, with an absolute majority of the votes validly cast. In order to win the election in the first round, the candidates party must receive more than 50 percent of the valid votes leaving out of the count blank. The election shall be held the third Sunday of November of the year immediately before the end of the administration of the President then holding office. Should there be more than two candidates in the election, none of them obtaining more than half of the votes validly cast. The second election, in the manner determined by law, shall be held the fourth Sunday after the first election, then, the candidate with the majority of valid votes in that round is elected president. Under the 1828 constitution, the President served for four years, in 1833, the presidential period was changed to five years, with a possibility of immediate reelection for one more term, limited to two consecutive terms. Then by a reform in 1878, possibility for reelection became disallowed. Under the 1925 constitution, the President served for a six-year term, in the original text of the 1980 constitution, the President served for an eight-year term without the possibility of immediate reelection
4.
Chilean War of Independence
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Traditionally, the beginning of the war is dated as September 18,1810. A declaration of independence was issued by Chile on February 12,1818 and formally recognized by Spain in 1844. The Chilean War of Independence was part of the more aroused Spanish American wars of independence, Independence did not have unanimous support among Chileans, who were divided between independentists and royalists. What started as a movement among elites against the colonial power. Traditionally, the process is divided into three stages, the Patria Vieja, 1810–1814, the Reconquista, 1814–1817, and the Patria Nueva, 1817–1823. In May 1808 the overthrow of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII, their replacement by Joseph Bonaparte, in the meantime, Chile was facing its own internal political problems. Governor Guzmán had suddenly died in February of that year and the crown had not been able to appoint a new governor before the invasion, since her father and brother were being held prisoners in France, she regarded herself as the heiress of her captured family. Allegedly among her plan was to send armies to occupy Buenos Aires and northern Argentina, brigadier García Carrasco was a man of crude and authoritarian manners, who managed in a very short time to alienate the criollo elites under his command. Already in Chile, as in most of Latin America, there had some independence agitation but minimal. In 1809, Governor García Carrasco himself was implicated in a flagrant case of corruption that managed to destroy remnants of moral authority he or his office had left. From that moment on the pressure for his removal began to build, in June 1810 news arrived from Buenos Aires that Napoleon Bonapartes forces had conquered Andalusia and laid siege to Cádiz, the last redoubt against the French on Spanish soil. Moreover, the Supreme Central Junta, which had governed the Empire for the past two years, had abolished itself in favor of a Regency Council, among those arrested were José Antonio de Rojas, Juan Antonio Ovalle and Bernardo de Vera y Pintado. Inspired by the May Revolution in Argentina, the movement had also propagated through the criollo elite. They resented the illegal arrests and, together with the news that Cádiz was all that was left of a free Spain, count Toro Zambrano was, by all standards, a very unorthodox selection. He was an old man already and moreover a criollo as opposed to a peninsular. Immediately after his appointment in July, the juntistas began to lobby him in order to obtain the formation of a junta. In August the Royal Appeals Court took a loyalty oath to the Regency Council in front of a massive audience. After vacillating for some time over which party to follow, Toro Zambrano finally agreed to hold an open Cabildo meeting in Santiago to discuss the issue, the date was set for September 18,1810 at 11 AM
5.
Arturo Alessandri
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He was son of Pedro Alessandri Vargas, son of an Italian immigrant, and Susana Palma Guzmán. His father was dedicated to the labor of the estate in which he lived. At the age of 12 he entered the Sacred Hearts High School, run by French priests and he started his law career by beginning studies at the University of Chile at the age of 20, graduating in 1893. In 1891, while studying, he participated in the newspaper La Justicia, after graduating as a lawyer, he married Rosa Ester Rodríguez Velasco, with whom he had 9 children. He began his life in 1897, entering the Liberal Party, and assuming the position of representative of Curicó. In 1915, already showing his first presidential aspirations, he challenged the senator of the province of Tarapacá, Arturo del Río. Alessandri won a disputed and violent election, from where he earned the nickname of León de Tarapacá, due to his charisma, his popularity with the people and his public-speaking abilities. In 1920 he ran for President of the Republic for the Liberal Alliance, with his speeches favoring the working class, he caused great fear in the more conservative sectors of Chilean society, which saw its interests in jeopardy. Since the opposition controlled the National Congress, Alessandri favored strengthening the executive power, during most of 1924, Chile had been politically paralyzed by a conflict between the President and the conservatively controlled Congress, who refused to enact the laws that he submitted. On September 3,1924 a group of 56 military officers protested for their low salaries, the next day the same group of young military officers led by Colonel Marmaduque Grove and Major Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, created the military committee to defend themselves from the government. Alessandri had no option but to appoint General Luis Altamirano, the Army Inspector General, on September 8, General Altamirano appeared in front of Congress to demand the passage of eight laws, including Alessandris labor code. Congress didnt dare to protest, and the laws were passed in a matter of hours, at that point, Alessandri felt that he had become just a pawn of the military and on September 9, he resigned, and requested asylum at the US Embassy. Congress refused to accept his resignation, and instead granted him a six-month constitutional leave of absence and he left the country immediately for Italy. On September 11, a military Junta — the September Junta — was established to rule the country in his absence. This led to a coup in January 1925, directed by Colonel Grove who handed out the power to General Pedro Dartnell as interim president while waiting for Alessandris return, Dartnell formed the January Junta, before retroceding the power to Alessandri on March 20,1925. Alessandri had a new Constitution drafted, and approved by plebiscite by 134,421 voters on August 30, the Constitution, which was promulgated on September 18,1925, reinforced presidential powers over the legislative. Furthermore, Alessandri created a Central Bank, initiating the first rupture with laissez faire policies His second government began with the support of left-wing, however, this second group began to distance itself from the President. In March 1925, Alessandris government repressed a demonstration, leading to the Marusia massacre and this break with the working classes caused him to try to maintain a right-wing-radical alliance until 1937, when it took a turn towards the left
6.
Salvador Allende
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Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician, known as the first Marxist to become president of a Latin American country through open elections. Allendes involvement in Chilean political life spanned a period of forty years. As a member of the Socialist Party, he was a senator, deputy and he unsuccessfully ran for the presidency in the 1952,1958, and 1964 elections. In 1970, he won the presidency in a close three-way race and he was elected in a run-off by Congress as no candidate had gained a majority. A centre-right majority including the Christian Democrats, whose support had enabled Allendes election, denounced his rule as unconstitutional, on 11 September 1973, the military moved to oust Allende in a coup détat sponsored by the United States Central Intelligence Agency. As troops surrounded La Moneda Palace, he gave his last speech vowing not to resign, later that day, Allende committed suicide with an assault rifle, according to an investigation conducted by a Chilean court with the assistance of international experts in 2011. Allende was born on 26 June 1908 in Santiago and he was the son of Salvador Allende Castro and Laura Gossens Uribe. Allendes family belonged to the Chilean upper middle class and had a tradition of political involvement in progressive. His grandfather was a prominent physician and a social reformist who founded one of the first secular schools in Chile, Salvador Allende was of Belgian and Basque descent. Allende attended high school at the Liceo Eduardo de la Barra in Valparaíso, as a teenager, his main intellectual and political influence came from the shoe-maker Juan De Marchi, an Italian-born anarchist. Allende was an athlete in his youth, being a member of the Everton de Viña del Mar sports club. Allende then graduated with a degree in 1933 from the University of Chile. During his time at medical school Allende was influenced by Professor Max Westenhofer, Allende co-founded a section of the Socialist Party of Chile in Valparaíso and became its chairman. He married Hortensia Bussi with whom he had three daughters and he was a Freemason, a member of the Lodge Progreso No.4 in Valparaíso. In 1933, he published his doctoral thesis Higiene Mental y Delincuencia in which he criticized Cesare Lombrosos proposals, in 1938, Allende was in charge of the electoral campaign of the Popular Front headed by Pedro Aguirre Cerda. The Popular Fronts slogan was Bread, a Roof and Work, after its electoral victory, he became Minister of Health in the Reformist Popular Front government which was dominated by the Radicals. Upon entering the government, Allende relinquished his seat for Valparaíso. Around that time, he wrote La Realidad Médico Social de Chile, after the Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany, Allende was one of 76 members of the Congress who sent a telegram to Adolf Hitler denouncing the persecution of Jews
7.
Patricio Aylwin
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Patricio Aylwin Azócar was a Chilean Christian Democrat politician, lawyer, author, professor and former senator. He was the first president of Chile after Pinochet, and his election marked the Chilean transition to democracy in 1990, Aylwin, the eldest of the five children of Miguel Aylwin and Laura Azócar, was born in Viña del Mar. An excellent student, he enrolled in the Law School of the University of Chile where he became a lawyer, with the highest distinction, in 1943. He served as professor of law, first at the University of Chile. He was also professor of education and political economy at the National Institute. He was married to Leonor Oyarzún Ivanovic and they had five children and 14 grandchildren. Patricio Aylwin’s involvement in politics started in 1945, when he joined the Falange Nacional, later he was elected president of the Falange in 1950 and 1951. When that party became the Christian Democrats, he served seven terms as its president between 1958 and 1989, in 1965 he was elected to the National Congress as a Senator. In 1971, he became the president of the Senate, during the government of Popular Unity, headed by Salvador Allende, he was also the president of his party, and he led the democratic opposition to Allende within and without Congress. He is credited, to degree, with trying to find a peaceful solution to the country’s political crisis. Nonetheless, in 1973, only a week before the Chilean coup of 1973 and this document, little noticed at the time, was later used as the main reason for the uprising of the normally apolitical Chilean military. Later he helped establish the Constitutional Studies Group of 24 to reunite the countrys democratic sectors against the dictatorship, in 1979 he served as a spokesman in the group that opposed the plebiscite that approved a new constitution. In 1982 Aylwin was elected president of the Christian Democrats. He was among the first to advocate acceptance of the Constitution as a reality in order to facilitate the return to democracy, the opposition eventually met the legal standards imposed by the Pinochet regime and participated in the 1988 plebiscite. In October 1988, Chileans voted in a referendum to end General Pinochets bid for 8 more years as president. Patricio Aylwin was at the center of the movement that defeated General Pinochet, patricio Aylwin was elected president of the Republic on December 14,1989. His administration, however, initiated direct municipal elections, the first of which were held in June 1992. In spite of the limits imposed on Aylwins government by the Constitution, over four years, it altered power relations in its favor in the state, in civil society
8.
Eduardo Frei Montalva
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Eduardo Nicanor Frei Montalva was a Chilean political leader. In his long career, he was Minister of Public Works, president of his Christian Democratic Party, senator, President of the Senate. His eldest son, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, also president of Chile. He was later an opponent of the Augusto Pinochet regime. Eduardo Frei Montalva was born in Santiago on January 16,1911, the son of Eduard Frei Schlinz, a Swiss-born ethnic German from Austria, in 1914, his family moved to Lontué, where his father had been hired as an accountant at a winery. In addition, his two siblings, Arturo and Irene, were born. He attended the Escuela Pública de Lontué, in 1919 the family returned to Santiago and Eduardo, as a young man, entered the boarding School Seminario Conciliar de Santiago where he remained until 1922. In 1923, he entered Instituto de Humanidades Luis Campino, where he graduated in 1928, as an 18-year-old, he entered Universidad Católica School of Law in 1929. For two years, he had been visiting María, the sister of his friend, Alfredo Ruiz-Tagle and he attended high school and went on to study law, graduating as a lawyer in 1933. He married María Ruiz-Tagle with whom he had 7 children and his eldest son, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, was President of Chile from 1994 to 2000. He began his career in the Conservative Party, but was among a group of young men who founded their own party in 1938. He was minister of Public Works in 1945, and in 1949, Frei was elected senator for Atacama, the same year he published “Historia de los Partidos Políticos Chilenos” in collaboration with Albert Edwards Vives. In 1950, he traveled to New York as a UN delegate, in 1952, at 41 years of age, Frei Montalva announced his first candidacy in the presidential elections. The 1952 election was won by Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, later, President Ibañez requested Frei to organize an executive committee. However, this never came to be, in 1954, the UN appointed him President of the Commission in charge of elaborating the report of the Conference of Chancellors held in Rio de Janeiro. Some of its members were, Carlos Lleras Restrepo, former President of Colombia, the report served as a basis for subsequent studies on economic development and the integration of Latin America. In 1956 he was elected Senator in Santiago by first majority, on July 27,1957, the Falange Nacional became the Christian Democratic Party of Chile, and he became the undisputed leader. Frei Montalva was offered once more the candidacy for president of the Republic in the 1958 elections, jorge Alessandri Rodríguez was elected president while Eduardo Frei Montalva took only third place
9.
Government Junta of Chile (1973)
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It was the executive and legislative branch of government until December 17,1974. After that date, it functioned strictly as a body until the return to democracy in 1990. On September 11,1973, the day of the coup, the judicial branch continued to operate under the Junta, and nominally had jurisdiction over its repressive activities, but rarely interfered. Once the Junta was in power, General Pinochet soon consolidated his control, since he was the commander-in-chief of the oldest branch of the military forces, he was made the head of the military junta. This position was originally to be rotated among the four branches and he began by retaining sole chairmanship of the junta as Supreme Chief of the Nation from June 27,1974 until December 17,1974 when he was proclaimed President. General Pinochet took over as President, following a plebiscite that approved a new constitution. On March 11,1981, he resigned his position in the Junta, and was replaced by the most senior General officer from the Army, who was nominated by himself. After that date, the Junta remained only as a body under the presidency of Admiral Merino. He was replaced by General Fernando Matthei, in 1985, three communists were found with their throats slit by the side of a road. The guilty party turned out to be the Carabineros secret service, immediately after the coup the junta moved to crush their left-wing opposition. In addition to pursuing armed revolutionary groups it embarked on a campaign against opponents, as a result, according to the Rettig Commission, approximately 3,000 people are known to have been killed,27,000 were incarcerated and in a great many cases tortured. 1973 Chilean coup détat Military dictatorship History of Chile List of Government Juntas of Chile
10.
Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle
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Eduardo Alfredo Juan Bernardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle is a Chilean politician and civil engineer who was President of Chile from 1994 to 2000. He is currently Senator for Los Ríos and was President of the Senate from 2006 to 2008 and he attempted a comeback as the candidate of the ruling Concertación coalition for the 2009 presidential election, but was narrowly defeated. His father was Eduardo Frei Montalva who was President of Chile from 1964 to 1970, Frei was born in Santiago to Eduardo Frei Montalva and María Ruiz-Tagle Jiménez. He received all his schooling at the Luis Campino Institute and he then attended the University of Chile, where he graduated as a Civil Engineer, specializing in hydraulics. After graduation, he followed advanced courses in management in Italy, Frei, whose grandfather Eduardo Frei Schlinz emigrated to Chile from Switzerland, obtained Swiss citizenship in February 2009. Frei took his first steps in politics while at the university, in 1958, he joined the Christian Democrat party, and in 1964 participated actively in his fathers successful presidential campaign. Between 1969 and 1988 he concentrated on his profession, as one of the partners of Sigdo Koppers S. A. the largest engineering company in Chile, in 1988 Frei founded and promoted the Comité Pro Elecciones Libres. In 1989 he was elected Senator for Santiago, obtaining the highest amount of votes in the whole country, in the Senate, he presided over the Treasury and Budget commission, and was a member of the Housing commission. In 1992 Frei participated in the presidential elections of his coalition, where he defeated Ricardo Lagos. He took office on March 11,1994 and was succeeded by Lagos in 2000, frei’s presidency was notable in making improvements in health and education, together with reducing poverty. Following the end of his presidency, Frei assumed, as a former President, given that Constitutional reforms in 2005 abolished life senators starting in 2006, Frei ran for an elected Senate seat in the December 2005 parliamentary elections and was victorious. He was elected in the district of Valdivia Province and Osorno Province together with Andrés Allamand. On March 11,2006 Frei became President of the Senate, like his father, some of his presidential campaign banners and billboards pictured him accompanied by Michelle Bachelet over his left shoulder. In the first round of the elections, held on December 13,2009, Frei held 29. 60% of the vote, second to his opponent Sebastián Piñera. Since neither candidate received more than half of the total votes, the first preliminary results announced by the Deputy Interior Ministry at 21,00 GMT on election day gave Piñera 51. 87% and Frei holding 48. 12%. Frei conceded to Piñera at 21,44 GMT, in a graceful exit from the campaign, former President Eduardo Frei stated, The election is over and Chileans have shown civic maturity. The results clearly show the solidity of our democracy and it has been clean and transparent in line with our tradition. I want to congratulate Pinera, to whom most Chileans have given their trust for the four years
