Alejandro Rojas Wainer (31 January 1945 – 16 April 2018) was a Chilean-Canadian academic. He was elected to the

Chamber of Deputies of Chile The Chamber of Deputies ( es, Cámara de Diputadas y Diputados, links=no) 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. Eligibil ...

for Popular Unity in 1973, but left office after the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

. Subsequently, he moved to Canada, and taught at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. Rojas Wainer was born in Santiago on 31 January 1945. He attended the Manuel de Salas Experimental School affiliated with the

University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

. Upon graduation, he was accepted into the University of Chile Dental School. Rojas Wainer became the first person elected to three terms as leader the

University of Chile Student Federation The University of Chile Student Federation (''Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad de Chile'' bbr. FECh is an organization that represents all the students enrolled in undergraduate and post-graduate courses at the University of Chile. T ...

, serving between from 1970 to 1973. While in college, he was active with the

Communist Youth of Chile The Communist Youth of Chile ( es, Juventudes Comunistas de Chile, JJ.CC. / La Jota) is the youth wing of the Communist Party of Chile. It was founded on September 5, 1932, and it incorporates young communist activists between the ages of 14 to 2 ...

. Rojas Wainer was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the Popular Unity political coalition in 1973, while still president of the student federation. After the coup d'état forced

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

out of power, Rojas Wainer left Chile to pursue graduate studies at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...

and

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

. He remained in Canada, teaching at the University of British Columbia. Rojas Wainer died of cancer at the age of 73 on 16 April 2018 in Vancouver.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rojas Wainer, Alejandro 1945 births 2018 deaths Deaths from cancer in British Columbia Communist Party of Chile politicians Politicians from Santiago Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile Chilean emigrants to Canada Chilean exiles University of Chile alumni York University alumni University of Geneva alumni Academic staff of the University of British Columbia