Claudio Huepe García (December 25, 1939 – May 11, 2009) 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 ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

and

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

, member 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 ...

, who occupied several government and political positions. During his career, he was the provincial governor of Arauco, a member of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies, a

government minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, ...

, and the Chilean ambassador to

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. He was also among the first in his party to reject the 1973 coup by

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 ...

and was exiled by the military dictatorship from 1975 until 1984. The son of Luis Huepe Godoy lebanese immigrant and Marta García Norambuena, renowned businesspeople from

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 � ...

, he studied Industrial

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

in the

Universidad Católica de 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 ...

and later obtained a master in economic development at the Center for Development Economics of

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...

(

Williamstown, Massachusetts Williamstown is a town in the northern part of Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, United States. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolit ...

). ''El Mercurio'' (Santiago), January 29, 2000, p.C2 ''La Segunda'' (Santiago), March 3, 2000, p.1

Beginnings in politics

During the government of President

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 ...

, he was named the provincial governor of the Province of Arauco (1964–1968), the youngest to hold such position, at age of 24. After four years, he resigned to pursue a master in Economic Development in the United States at the Center for Development Economics of the

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. He returned to Chile in 1969, and was soon elected as a representative (member of the Chamber of Deputies) for the province of Arauco (1969–1973) with the support of the PDC (Chilean

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 ...

). He was reelected in 1973, but his tenure was soon interrupted by the military coup against the democratically elected

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

government of

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 ...

. Huepe soon expressed publicly his rejection to the coup and its interruption of the Chilean democratic tradition by signing the so-called Statement of the Group of Thirteen. As a consequence of his opposition to the military dictatorship, he was later detained and sent to the political prisoner camps of Tres Álamos and Ritoque for three months. He was then exiled, in 1975, living in England and

until he was allowed to return to Chile in 1984, as the dictatorship slowly started to open-up politically.

Return to democracy

During his years of exile and after returning to Chile, Claudio Huepe continued to be actively involved in

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

, working for the return of

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

. As one of the most left-leaning Christian Democrats (a party that in Chile occupies the

political center Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the l ...

) he was instrumental in the formation of what later became the Concerted Parties for Democracy; the center-left coalition that defeated the dictatorship and has won all presidential elections since the military rule ended in 1990. With the return to democracy, in 1990, Claudio Huepe was elected again to the Chamber of Deputies, for the same region he had represented before the coup, now District 46 (Lota, Lebu, Arauco, Curanilahue, Los Álamos, Cañete, Contulmo, and Tirúa), with a 35.93% of the votes. In 1997, he was appointed

Undersecretary Undersecretary (or under secretary) is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary (person in charge). It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is al ...

at the Ministry General Secretariat of Government (1997–2000) by President

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 ...

. In 2000, the newly elected President

Ricardo Lagos Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar (; born 2 March 1938) is a Chilean lawyer, economist and social-democratic politician who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. During the 1980s he was a well-known opponent of the Chilean military dic ...

named him Minister Secretary-General of Government (2000–2002), While he succeeded as a cabinet-member in completing several important initiatives such as the Chilean

Press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a fam ...

Law or the

Freedom of Religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freed ...

Law, and in modernizing the image of the Chilean government, his work as the government spokesperson (an additional responsibility of this position) was considered opaque. He was replaced in 2002 by the

Heraldo Muñoz Heraldo Muñoz Valenzuela (born July 22, 1948) is a Chilean political scientist, academic, diplomat and politician; the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile under President Michelle Bachelet; former Assistant Secretary General, Assistant A ...

, of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

. In 2005, he ran again as a candidate for the Chamber of Deputies to represent a different zone (District 41), but was not elected. He was later named Ambassador to

by President

Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...

, but presented his resignation in mid-2007, after accepting the political responsibility for unveiling a private conversation with the President on the Venezuelan television channel teleSur regarding the 2006 Chilean vote for the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

. Claudio Huepe died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

on May 11, 2009, while visiting Caracas,

.emol, May 11, 2009, 2pm
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huepe, Claudio 1939 births 2009 deaths People from Chillán Chilean people of Lebanese descent Chilean Roman Catholics National Falange politicians Christian Democratic Party (Chile) politicians Chilean Ministers Secretary General of Government Deputies of the XLVI Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Deputies of the XLVII Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Deputies of the XLVIII Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Ambassadors of Chile to Venezuela Chilean diplomats Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni Death in Caracas