Mónica Madariaga Gutiérrez (25 January 1942 – 8 October 2009) was a Chilean lawyer, academic, and politician, a

state minister Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

of the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...

headed by her cousin, Augusto Pinochet, which ruled the country from 1973 to 1990.

Biography

The daughter of Carlos Madariaga Pizarro and Laura Gutiérrez Ugarte, and granddaughter of a Chilean Army general, Mónica Madariaga studied with the Ursulines Nuns, at the Colegio Compañía de María, and at in Providencia. She entered the law school of the University of Chile and graduated in 1966 with the thesis ''Derecho administrativo y seguridad jurídica'' (Administrative Law and Legal Security). She worked at the office of the Comptroller General from 1962 to 1977. When Augusto Pinochet headed the military junta, she was appointed Minister of Justice, serving from 1977 and 1983. At this time the Constitution of 1980, as well as Decree Law 2.191, better known as the – which was drafted by Madariaga herself – were enacted. Mónica Madariaga apologized in an interview granted in 1985 to the journalist Mónica González for the magazine ', claiming to have lived in a "micro-reality" that did not allow her to see what was really happening in the country with regard to

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 ...

. At the same time she blamed

Jaime Guzmán Jaime Jorge Guzmán Errázuriz (June 28, 1946 – April 1, 1991) was a Chilean constitutional law professor, speechwriter and member and doctrinal founder of the conservative Independent Democrat Union party. In the 1960s he opposed the Universit ...

and José Piñera for some of their actions. After the country's return to democracy, she became the rector of Andrés Bello University. She was a

Union of the Centrist Center The Union of the Centrist Center (, UCC) — named Progressive Union of the Centrist Center (, UCCP) between 1994 and 1998 — was a small political party in Chile. The party was founded by supermarket tycoon Francisco Javier Errázuriz to s ...

candidate for senator for

O'Higgins Region The Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region ( es, Región del Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, ), often shortened to O'Higgins Region ( es, Región de O'Higgins), is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is subdi ...

in the 1997 parliamentary election, but received 16.65% of votes and was not elected. Later she was director of the Law School of the

University UNIACC University for the Arts, Sciences, and Communication ( es, Universidad de las Artes, Ciencias, y Comunicaciones) (UNIACC) is a Chilean university located in Providencia, Chile. It is a nonprofit institution owned by the Apollo Group Apollo Edu ...

. From 2001 to 2003, she was active in the

Independent Democratic Union The Independent Democratic Union (''Unión Demócrata Independiente'', UDI) is a conservative and right-wing political party in Chile, founded in 1983. Its founder was the lawyer, politician and law professor Jaime Guzmán, a civilian allied with A ...

(UDI).

Death

In 2004, Mónica Madariaga contracted an aggressive form of bone and breast cancer, which was initially contained, but then returned and

metastasized Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...

to her lymphatic system. She died from cancer at 6:00 a.m. on 8 October 2009 at her home in the municipality of

Las Condes Las Condes is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. The area is inhabited primarily by upper-mid- to high income families, and known in the Chilean collective consciousness as home to the country's economi ...

Controversies

Mónica Madariaga was characterized by her strong personality, frank character, and divisive revelations and statements, which landed her in several controversies in the press. She was a frequent guest on television programs precisely because of her openness to unveiling some episodes of the military regime, such as indicating the great influence that

Lucía Hiriart María Lucía Hiriart Rodríguez (10 December 1923 – 16 December 2021), also known as Lucía Hiriart de Pinochet, was married to former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Early life and education Hiriart was born into a wealthy family in An ...

exerted on her husband. She caused a stir when, in an interview with the newspaper ''

La Tercera ''La Tercera'' ( es, The Third One), formerly known as ''La Tercera de la Hora'' ('the third of the hour'), is a daily newspaper published in Santiago, Chile and owned by Copesa. It is ''El Mercurio''s closest competitor. ''La Tercera'' is part o ...

'' in 2000, she affirmed that the leaders of the rightist UDI were indoctrinated in Colonia Dignidad. In 2009 she returned to the public spotlight by affirming, in an interview with of

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

, that in 1982 she interceded to free Sebastián Piñera, then general manager of the

Banco de Talca Banco de Talca (''Bank of Talca'') was a Chilean bank founded in 1884, whose headquarters were in the city of Talca. Most of its operations were concentrated in the Maule and Metropolitan regions. In 1981 it was intervened by the Government and li ...

, from his imprisonment for fraud and infractions to the General Bank Law. Piñera denied the accusations, but Madariaga reaffirmed her statements, calling the Coalition for Change's presidential candidate a "liar".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madariaga, Monica 1942 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Chilean lawyers Academic staff of the Andrés Bello National University Chilean Ministers of Education Chilean Ministers of Justice Chilean women lawyers Deaths from cancer in Chile Independent Democratic Union politicians Ministers of the military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990) Politicians from Santiago Union of the Centrist Center politicians University of Chile alumni Women government ministers of Chile Female justice ministers 20th-century women lawyers Government ministers of Chile 20th-century Chilean women politicians