Andrés Zaldívar
Encyclopedia
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an Christian Democrat
Christian Democrat Party of Chile
The Christian Democratic Party is a political party in Chile and governs as part of the Coalition of Parties for Democracy coalition. In the 2009 election it won 19 congress seats and 9 senate seats....
politician. Andrés Zaldívar is of Basque
Basque people
The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...
descent.
Early years
Zaldívar was born in Santiago, ChileSantiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
. He attended primary and secondary school at the Instituto Alonso de Ercilla de Santiago, a member of the Congregación de los Hermanos Maristas. In 1959 Zaldívar graduated from the Universidad de Chile, having written the thesis ""Rental Laws, Commentaries and Jurisprudence".'
In 1952 Zaldívar began his political career by joining the Conservative Party
Partido Conservador
Partido Conservador can refer to:* Colombian Conservative Party* Conservative Party * Conservative Party * Conservative Party * Conservative Party of Nicaragua* Conservative Party...
. while attending university, he participated in the International Congress of Students in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 1956 representing Chile, as the Secretary of the Union of Federated Universities of Chile. In 1957 he joined the Christian Democrat Party, and served as Juvenile President for Santiago's Third District.
Zaldívar practiced law in the Municipality of Colina
Colina, Chile
Colina is a Chilean city and commune, capital of the Chacabuco Province, in the northern part of the Santiago Metropolitan Region.-Demographics:...
from 1959 to 1962, then became magistrate of the local police of La Cisterna
La Cisterna
La Cisterna is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. It was founded on 30 May 1925.-Demographics:...
.
Political career
Eduardo Frei Montalva
Eduardo Frei Montalva was a Chilean political leader of world stature. In his long political career, he was Minister of Public Works, president of his Christian Democratic Party, senator, President of the Senate, and president of Chile from 1964 to 1970...
, Zaldívar served as Undersecretary of Finance from 1964 to 1967. He became Minister of Finance in 1968 and Minister of both Finance and Economy, in 1970. From 1968 to 1970, Zaldívar served as governor of the Inter-American Development Bank
Inter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean...
and was representative to the Interamerican Committee of the Alliance for Progress in Washington from 1968 to 1969 and representative to the Economic and Social Committee in Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
in 1970.
During the years of the Popular Unity
Popular Unity
Unidad Popular was a coalition of left wing, socialist and communist political parties in Chile that stood behind the successful candidacy of Salvador Allende for the 1970 Chilean presidential election....
coalition, Zaldívar served many different posts within the party: from 1970 to 1973 he was a national counselor of the Christian Democrats, in 1972 he became a member of the Political Committee, and from 1976 to 1982 he was the president of the Christian Democrats. As such, he became one of the main leaders of the opposition to the Pinochet military regime at that time.
Military regime
Chilean coup of 1973
The 1973 Chilean coup d'état was a watershed event of the Cold War and the history of Chile. Following an extended period of political unrest between the conservative-dominated Congress of Chile and the socialist-leaning President Salvador Allende, discontent culminated in the latter's downfall in...
, Congress was dissolved on September 21 and Zaldívar went into exile with his family in Spain. Returning to Chile the following year, Zaldívar became president of the Christian Democrat Party, from 1975 to 1982.
In exile, Zaldívar was made President of the International Christian Democrats, an international organization of political parties, from 1981 to 1986, when he became a member of its advisory council. In 1981, furthermore, Zaldívar was a founding member of Center for Research for Ibero-America and Spain (Fundación CIPIE) in Spain, holding the position of president. In 1988, he joined the "No" campaign for the national plebiscite of that year. Also in 1988, Zaldívar again became the president of his party for another two years.
Administrations of the Concertación
In 1989, Zaldívar was elected Senator for the VII District of West Santiago, in one of the most hard-fought elections in history. Zaldívar received 31.27% of the vote while his partner on the list, future president Ricardo LagosRicardo Lagos
Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar is a lawyer, economist and social democrat politician, who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. He won the 1999-2000 presidential election by a narrow margin in a runoff over Independent Democrat Union candidate Joaquín Lavín...
, received 30.62%. Due to Chile's "binominal system" (where parties or coalitions of parties select lists of one or more candidates, and the top candidate from each of the top two lists is elected when the top list gets less than twice the second-place list) and since no concessions could get double the votes of the Democracy and Progress
Alliance for Chile
The Alliance for Chile , also known simply as The Alliance , was a coalition of right-wing Chilean political parties.The Alliance was replaced in 2009 by the Coalition for Change....
, Andrés Zaldívar and the Independent Democrat Union
Independent Democrat Union
The Independent Democrat Union is a Chilean right-wing, conservative political party, founded in 1983. Its main inspirer was the lawyer, politician and law professor Jaime Guzmán, a former senator of the Republic of Chile from 1990 until his assassination on April 1, 1991.Its ideological origins...
's Jaime Guzmán
Jaime Guzmán
Jaime Jorge Guzmán Errázuriz was a Chilean lawyer and senator, member and doctrinal founder of the conservative Independent Democrat Union party. He opposed Marxist President Salvador Allende and later became a close advisor to dictator Augusto Pinochet. A professor of Constitutional Law, he...
, who only received 17.91% of the vote were elected.
At this time, Zaldívar joined the Senate Public Works Committee and presided over the Finance Committee. In December of the same year, he was re-elected Senator with 27.77% of the vote. His partner on the list, Camilo Escalona, received 15.98% principally due to the migration of votes from the left to the candidate of the Communist Party of Chile
Communist Party of Chile
The Communist Party of Chile is a Chilean political party inspired by the thoughts of Karl Marx and Lenin. It was founded in 1922, as the continuation of the Socialist Workers Party, and in 1934 it established its youth wing, the Communist Youth of Chile .In the last legislative elections in Chile...
, Gladys Marín Millie, who received 15.69% of the vote. This allowed Zaldívar to be elected together with the conservative Jovino Novoa, with 20.56% of the vote.
In 1999, Zaldívar was a candidate for President of Chile, representing the Christian Democrat Party for the primary election of the Chilean presidential election
Chilean presidential election, 1999-2000
A presidential election was held in Chile on December 12, 1999. None of the candidates achieved an absolute majority and a runoff election among the top two contenders was held on January 16, 2000. In the first round, a total of 7,271,572 Chileans cast their vote, of an electorate of 8,084,476...
of that year. Meanwhile, the coalition PPD/PS (Party for Democracy
Party for Democracy
The Party for Democracy is a political party in Chile; it is social democratic in its political orientation. It was founded in December 1987 by Ricardo Lagos, who aimed at forming a legal social democratic party . The party continued to function after the defeat of Pinochet...
and Socialist Party of Chile
Socialist Party of Chile
The Socialist Party of Chile is a political party, that is part of the center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy coalition. Its historical leader was the late President of Chile Salvador Allende Gossens, who was deposed by General Pinochet in 1973...
) elected Ricardo Lagos as its primary candidate. In that year, the Coalition of Parties for Democracy
Coalition of Parties for Democracy
The Concert of Parties for Democracy , more often known as the Concertación, is a coalition of center-left political parties in Chile, founded in 1988...
(the Concertación) held a primary to decide between the two. Lagos won the vote, with 71.3% of the vote to Zaldívar's 28.7%.
In 2005, Zaldívar ran for the third consecutive time for the Senate seat of West Santiago in the Chilean parliamentary election, 2005
Chilean parliamentary election, 2005
The 2005 Chilean parliamentary election took place on December 11, 2005, in conjunction with the presidential election. All of the 120 seats in the Chamber of Deputies were contested, while 20 out of 38 seats in the Senate were up for election . Deputies serve for a period of four years, while...
of December 11, facing the Deputy
Chamber of Deputies of Chile
The Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Chile is the lower house of Chile's bicameral Congress. Its organisation and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of Chile's current constitution....
Guido Girardi
Guido Girardi
Guido Girardi Lavin is a Chilean physician and politician. He is currently serving the period between 2006 and 2014 as senator for the district No. 7 for Santiago Poniente...
(PPD) (his coalition partner on the list), the Senator Jovino Novoa (UDI), and the businessman Roberto Fantuzzi (Independent); the last two members of the Alliance for Chile coalition. Despite a strong campaign, Zaldívar did not retain his seat in the senate, although he exceeded the top candidate of his opponents' list, since the Democratic Coalition's votes did not double that of the Alliance for Chile, fellow Democratic Coalition member Guido Girardi
Guido Girardi
Guido Girardi Lavin is a Chilean physician and politician. He is currently serving the period between 2006 and 2014 as senator for the district No. 7 for Santiago Poniente...
was elected and Alliance for Chile member, the founder and president of Independent Democrat Union
Independent Democrat Union
The Independent Democrat Union is a Chilean right-wing, conservative political party, founded in 1983. Its main inspirer was the lawyer, politician and law professor Jaime Guzmán, a former senator of the Republic of Chile from 1990 until his assassination on April 1, 1991.Its ideological origins...
, Jovino Novoa was reelected.
However, in later days, Zaldívar became a leader and chief strategist of Michelle Bachelet
Michelle Bachelet
Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria is a Social Democrat politician who was President of Chile from 11 March 2006 to 11 March 2010. She was the first woman president of her country...
's presidential campaign
Chilean presidential election, 2005-2006
A presidential election took place in Chile on Sunday, December 11, 2005. None of the four candidates received an absolute majority, thus a runoff election among the top two candidates —Michelle Bachelet from the Coalition of Parties for Democracy and Sebastián Piñera from National Renewal— was...
. After the victory of the socialist candidate Bachelet, Zaldívar was appointed as her Minister of the Interior.
Trivia
- Zaldívar's nickname, "Chico" alias "Shorty", comes from his extremely short height.
- In the Chilean telenovelaTelenovelaA telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...
Hippie, ambientated in the very early 70's, Zaldívar had a small cameo as himself since at that time he was a member of the Congress. He was shown being interviewed by a group of college students outside of the National Congress in Santiago.