Luis Nicolás Corvalán Lepe (14 September 1916, in Puerto Montt – 21 July 2010) 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. He served as the general secretary of the

Communist Party of Chile The Communist Party of Chile ( es, Partido Comunista de Chile, ) is a communist party in Chile. It was founded in 1912 as the Socialist Workers' Party () and adopted its current name in 1922. The party established a youth wing, the Communist Youth ...

(PCCh). Corvalán joined the Communist Party of Chile at the age of fifteen in the city of

Chillán Chillán () is the capital List of cities in Chile, city of the Ñuble Region in the Diguillín Province of Chile located about south of the country's capital, Santiago, near the geographical center of the country. It is the capital of the new � ...

shortly after the fall of the dictatorship of

Carlos Ibáñez del Campo General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo (; 3 November 1877 – 28 April 1960) was a Chilean Army officer and political figure. He served as President twice, first between 1927 and 1931, and then from 1952 to 1958, serving for 10 years in office. ...

in 1932.According to Nuestra Propuesta Interview - Raúl Martínez / Corvalán. (

would return to the presidency between 1952 to 1958 a period which meant severe repression against the PCCh) Trained as a teacher, after 1952 he became an elected member of the PCCh's Central Committee, and after 1958 served as the secretary-general. The party was outlawed from 1948 until 1958. On 11 September 1973, General

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 ...

led a

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

and Corvalán was among the many arrested. After the murder of

Víctor Jara Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (; 28 September 1932 – 16 September 1973) was a Chilean teacher, theater director, poet, singer-songwriter and Communist political activist. He developed Chilean theater by directing a broad array of works, ran ...

, he was the most prominent

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...

in Chile. While in prison, Luis Corvalán was awarded the

Lenin Peace Prize The International Lenin Peace Prize (russian: международная Ленинская премия мира, ''mezhdunarodnaya Leninskaya premiya mira)'' was a Soviet Union award named in honor of Vladimir Lenin. It was awarded by a pane ...

(for 1973–74). The Soviet Union launched an international campaign for his release and on 18 December 1976, Corvalán was exchanged for a notable Soviet political prisoner,

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

Vladimir Bukovsky Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky (russian: link=no, Влади́мир Константи́нович Буко́вский; 30 December 1942 – 27 October 2019) was a Russian-born British human rights activist and writer. From the late 195 ...

, and received

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

in the USSR. Corvalán headed the Communist Party of Chile – both within Chile and whilst in exile – for over three decades, which covered the whole period of the Pinochet military dictatorship. Corvalán returned to Chile in 1990 after the end of the Pinochet regime.

Works

* ''The Other Germany – the GDR. Discussions with Margot Honecker'', in which

Margot Honecker Margot Honecker (née Feist; 17 April 1927 – 6 May 2016) was an East German politician who was an influential member of that country's Communist government until 1989. From 1963 until 1989, she was Minister of National Education (''Ministerin f ...

speaks about the history of the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...

from her perspective.
Living Portrayal of Salvador Allende by Luis Corvalan. (Spanish language)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corvalan, Luis 1916 births 2010 deaths People from Puerto Montt Chilean people of Spanish descent Communist Party of Chile politicians Senators of the XLIV Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Senators of the XLV Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Senators of the XLVI Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Senators of the XLVII Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Presidency of Salvador Allende Chilean expatriates in the Soviet Union People granted political asylum in the Soviet Union Lenin Peace Prize recipients Recipients of the Order of Lenin