Jaime Castillo Velasco (; 14 March 1914 – 29 October 2003) was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an politician who served as president and vice-president of the

Christian Democrat Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

on several occasions.

Early life

Born in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, he studied at the Liceo Alemán before progressing to a law degree at 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.

, from where he graduated in 1935. He became a lawyer, in 1939, after he finished his studies at

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (''PUC or UC Chile'') ( es, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) is one of the six Catholic Universities existing in the Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical universities i ...

. He later studied philosophy at both the University of Chile and the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Career

During the government of

Eduardo Frei Montalva Eduardo Nicanor Frei Montalva (; 16 January 1911 – 22 January 1982) was a Chilean political leader. In his long political career, he was Minister of Public Works, president of his Christian Democratic Party, senator, President of the ...

, Jaime Castillo was appointed to serve as the Minister of Land and Human Settlement and, later, as Minister of Justice (1966 to 1968). He was a professor at the University of Chile and the Catholic University, School of Political Science; directed the policy and Spirit magazine; chaired the Institute of Political Studies and Training (IDEP), was a member of the World Ideological Commission of the Christian Democrats and the founder and director of the Latin American Secretariat of Human Rights. In the years 1990s under the government of

Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle Eduardo Alfredo Juan Bernardo Frei Ruiz–Tagle (; born 24 June 1942) is a Chilean politician and civil engineer who served as president of Chile from 1994 to 2000. He was also a Senator, fulfilling the role of President of the Senate from 2006 ...

, Jaime Castillo was the director of

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina. Its motto is: "''La Nac ...

. He was forced into exile in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

following the coup d'état of 11 September 1973 that overthrew

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

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 ...

. That did not prevent him, however, from founding the Chilean Human Rights Commission ''(Comisión Chilena de Derechos Humanos)'' in 1978, an agency that worked to defend

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

during the ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' government of

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Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

. In that capacity, he defended several human rights cases, including cases involving Chilean exiles or the murder of

Orlando Letelier Marcos Orlando Letelier del Solar (13 April 1932 – 21 September 1976) was a Chilean economist, politician and diplomat during the presidency of Salvador Allende. A refugee from the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, Letelier ...

. In August 1976 Castillo Velasco and Eugenio Velasco Letelier (es), were accused of posing a threat to "

national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...

" and were expelled to

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. While in exile he tried a few times to return to his country but the Junta did not allow him. Following the restoration of democracy, President

Patricio Aylwin Patricio Aylwin Azócar (; 26 November 1918 – 19 April 2016) was a Chilean politician from the Christian Democratic Party, lawyer, author, professor and former senator. He was the first president of Chile after dictator Augusto Pinochet, a ...

appointed him to the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission (the "Rettig Commission"), which, on 9 February 1991, published the "

Rettig Report The Rettig Report, officially The National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Report, is a 1991 report by a commission designated by Chilean President Patricio Aylwin (from the ''Concertación'') detailing human rights abuses resulting in dea ...

", analysing the

human rights violations Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...

committed during the military regime. In the last years of her life to preside over the Chilean Institute of Humanistic Studies (ICHEH) reflection of social organization-Christian stream (linked to the Christian Democratic Party), between 2000 and 2003.

Awards

He received several decorations from the governments of Venezuela and France. In 1999, he was handed the award for Meritorious Service of the Republic of Chile.

Personal life

He was married to Mercedes Zavala Parga, had no children. His father was poet and lawyer Eduardo Castillo Urízar and his mother was Elena Velasco. His brother was Fernando Castillo Velasco, mayor of the Municipality of

La Reina La Reina ( Spanish: "The Queen") is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region created in 1963 from an eastern portion of the Ñuñoa commune. It belongs to the Northeastern zone of Santiago de Chile. La Re ...

.Castillo Velasco lived by and for the DD.HH.
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Publications

*''En defensa de Maritain'' (Santiago, Editorial del Pacífico 1949) *''El problema comunista'' (Santiago, Editorial del Pacífico, 1955) *''Las fuentes de la Democracia Cristiana'' (Santiago, Editorial del Pacífico, 1968) *''Los caminos de la revolución'' (Santiago, Editorial del Pacífico, 1972) *''Teoría y práctica de la Democracia Cristiana'' (Santiago, Editorial del Pacífico, 1973) *''Democracia y Derechos Humanos'' (Santiago, Icheh, 1986) *''El humanismo integral de Jaques Maritain'' (Santiago, Icheh, 1987) *''Violencia y Derechos Humanos'' (Santiago, Icheh, 1993) *''¿Hubo en Chile violaciones a los Derechos Humanos? Comentarios a las memorias del General Pinochet'' (Santiago, Icheh, 1995) *''La teoría de la abstracción en el empirismo inglés'' (Santiago, Rumbos, 1999)

References

Sources

:The earliest version of this article was translated, with minor modifications, from th
corresponding article
on the Spanish-language Wikipedia. {{DEFAULTSORT:Castillo Velasco, Jaime 1914 births 2003 deaths People from Santiago Chilean people of Spanish descent Christian Democratic Party (Chile) politicians University of Chile alumni Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni University of Paris alumni Chilean democracy activists Chilean human rights activists Chilean political writers Government ministers of Chile Chilean expatriates in France