Jacobo Hey Paoa is the first Rapa Nui male to earn a law degree and become an attorney.

Family

His parents Urbano Edmunds Hey and Carolina Paoa Rangitopa were from Rapa-Nui. Urbano, who once served as the Mayor of Hanga Roa, was the son of Henry Percy Edmunds and Sofia Catalina Renga No'i No'i Hereveri Vaka. From 1904-1929, Edmunds was the manager of the Scottish-Chilean company Williamson Balfour Agency—a merchant of sheep raising and nitrates that created the Island Exploitation Company. In addition to Urbano, Edmunds also fathered

Juan Edmunds Rapahango Juan Edmunds Rapahango (1923 – August 20, 2012) was a Rapa Nui politician, the former Mayor of Hanga Roa, the municipality of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), in Chilean Polynesia. He is the son of Henry Percy Edmunds, director of the Williamson-Balfou ...

from a prior marriage. Rapahango was the father of politician

Pedro Edmunds Paoa Pedro Pablo ''Petero'' Edmunds Paoa (born 1 July 1961) is a Chilean politician. He serves as mayor of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Commune. He was previously the Governor of the Easter Island Province from March 2010 to August 2010. His first term ...

, and each would serve as the Mayor of Easter Island (Rapahango: 1973-1979, 1990-1992; Paoa: 1994-2008, 2012-ongoing).

Educational background and legal career

At the age of thirteen, Jacobo Hey Paoa traveled from Easter Island and settled 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 ...

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 ...

. He had difficulty adjusting to his new life, as he did not speak Spanish and was enrolled at an experimental school that had unconventional teaching methods. Later, as an adult, Paoa himself entered the educational field. He graduated from the José Abelardo Núñez Higher Normal School as a Normalist Professor and eventually became the educational institution's director. In 1974, he began studying law 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.

. He earned a Master's in Labor Law and Social Security—even receiving an exchange scholarship from the Rotary Club to study in Chicago, Illinois.

Political life

By 1983, he returned to Easter Island. He served as the

Provincial Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

from 1990 to 2000 during the governments of the center-left

Concertación The Concertación, officially the Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia ( en, Coalition of Parties for Democracy), was a coalition of center-left political parties in Chile, founded in 1988. Presidential candidates under its banner won ...

coalition until his resignation. He was instrumental in the preparation of the Indigenous Law 19.253 and its subsequent modification to restore land to the members of the Rapa Nui people. He currently serves as the Secretary of the Court, Notary and Conservator of Real Estate of the Island. In certain instances, he is even called upon to serve as an alternate or subrogated judge for the Easter Island Court.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hey Paoa, Jacobo Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Easter Island people University of Chicago alumni University of Chile alumni 20th-century Chilean lawyers 21st-century Chilean judges