Mercedes Hortensia Bussi Soto (22 July 1914 – 18 June 2009) was the wife of

Chilean President The president of Chile ( es, Presidente de Chile), officially known as the President of the Republic of Chile ( es, Presidente de la República de Chile), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Chile. The president is re ...

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 ...

. She was married to him from 1940 until he

committed suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and subs ...

during the

1973 Chilean coup d'état The 1973 Chilean coup d'état Enciclopedia Virtual > Historia > Historia de Chile > Del gobierno militar a la democracia" on LaTercera.cl. Retrieved 22 September 2006. In October 1972, Chile suffered the first of many strikes. Among the par ...

, serving as First Lady of Chile from 1970 to 1973. Her daughters are Beatriz, Isabel and Carmen Paz.

Life

Bussi, nicknamed "Tencha", was born in Rancagua to a well-off family. She was the daughter of Ciro Bussi Aguilera, an officer in the country's merchant marine and Mercedes Soto García. She graduated from 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.

as a teacher of History and Geography and worked as a

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time ...

at the National Statistics Office. Bussi met her future husband in the aftermath of the

1939 Chillán earthquake The 1939 Chillán earthquake occurred in south-central Chile on 24 January with a surface wave magnitude of 8.3 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). With a death toll of around 28,000, compared to the 2,231–6,000 (official estima ...

,''The Guardian'' obituary for Hortensia Bussi de Allende
/ref> in which more than 40.000 Chileans lost their lives. They were involved in the campaign for those made homeless by the earthquake. They married a year later, in 1940. Allende then became minister of health in the

Popular Front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...

government of Pedro Aguirre Cerda, at the start of his political career. After the military coup which overthrew her husband, Bussi went into exile in Mexico, and campaigned against the Pinochet regime. In 1975, she was a member of the jury at the

9th Moscow International Film Festival The 9th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 10 to 23 July 1975. The Golden Prizes were awarded to the Polish film '' The Promised Land'' directed by Andrzej Wajda, the Soviet-Japanese film '' Dersu Uzala'' directed by Akira Kurosawa ...

, and in 1977 she stood as candidate for

Rector of the University of Glasgow The (Lord) Rector of the University of Glasgow is one of the most senior posts within the institution, elected every three years by students. The theoretical role of the rector is to represent students to the senior management of the university ...

, losing to the student John Bell.University of Glasgow Story-John Bell
/ref> She returned to Chile in 1988.Hortensia Bussi SotoCHILEAN FIRST LADY
/ref>

Death

Bussi returned to Chile in 1990 after 17 years in exile and kept a quiet life. She died at the age of 94 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, whos ...

References

External links

* http://visualrian.com/images/item/2953
Hortensia Bussi de Allende's obituary
* 1914 births 2009 deaths Allende family Chilean democracy activists Chilean exiles Chilean human rights activists Lenin Peace Prize recipients Chilean people of Italian descent First Ladies of Chile People from Valparaíso Salvador Allende People of the Cold War {{Chile-bio-stub