Pablo Rodríguez Grez (born 1937) is a Chilean politician and lawyer. He supported and was a former lawyer for

Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader of the military junta, which i ...

. He became known for his authoritarian ideals and for founding the Fatherland and Liberty movement, in which he had been accused of terrorist acts, in addition to collaborating with Pinochet's coup in 1973. He was also a candidate for the

National Advance National Advance (, AN) was a Chilean far-right political party of nationalist ideology who supported the military regime led by Augusto Pinochet. They had party legal existence between January 1988 and July 1991. It was founded on 11 Septembe ...

party for the presidency of Chile in 1989. He has been a teacher of Civil Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile since 1978 and is a partner at the law firm Rodríguez Vergara y Compañía.

Early life

He was born on 20 December 1937, in the capital

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. He wears a black tie as he mourns the suicide of his father, Manuel Rodríguez Valenzuela, a former education minister who killed himself after an investigation by the comptroller. He graduated in Legal and Social Sciences in 1960 at the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile, then received his law degree in 1962. He also received the Pedro Nicolás Montenegro award in 1960.

Political life

He was a strong opponent of

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until Death of Salvador Allende, his death in 1973 Chilean coup d'état, 1973. As a ...

, in which in 1970, with right-wing youth figures such as Jaime Guzman, he founded the Comité Cívico Patria y Libertad, a committee designed to prevent the election of

. Some of the committee's ideals served as inspiration for the Fatherland and Liberty party, such as

anti-communism Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism, communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global ...

and opposition to the UP. These groups generally had nationalist ideals and connections to the armed forces, such as the Juventude Anticomunista de Chile.

Fatherland and Liberty

He founded the party on April 1, 1971, at an event at the stadium Nathaniel in the heart of the capital, later becoming head. It emerged as an opposition to the government of

and which had supposed support from the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

. He preached nationalist and fascist ideals (especially

Italian fascism Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...

) and that parliament, along with traditional parties, were responsible for the economic crisis. The movement did not have many members, but it had some power in politics. The movement carried out

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

acts and

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

against the Allende government, such as the murder of Arturo Araya Peeters. They attempted a strike in 1972, but failed. The movement had contact with Armored Regiments (Nº2), in which they attempted a coup in June 1973, with tanks in the streets and bomb attacks, in which it became known as “

Tanquetazo ''El Tanquetazo'' or ''El Tancazo'' (Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Span ...

”, which was also unsuccessful. After the failed coup attempt, he and other officials sought asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy, living in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

for two months, returning to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

clandestinely from

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Military dictatorship

He dissolved the movement after Pinochet's coup in 1973. He tried to gain Pinochet's trust, even though he disagreed with the economic policy adopted, which was liberal and he was

corporatist Corporatism is an ideology and political system of interest representation and policymaking whereby corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, come together and negotiate contracts ...

. Pinochet ignored many of Rodríguez's advice and did not have much influence on the regime, even though he played a leading role in the coup that toppled Allende. He advised Pinochet not to respect the courts and crack down on Christian Democracy, saying that his supporters wanted the Junta Militar to fail and that the

University of Chile The University of Chile () is a public university, public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

became an "umbrella for Christian Democracy." He expressed his loyalty to the regime after saying: ''"I am the most modest soldier, the most humble, but the most loyal to this cause"'' and that: ''"...our position is one of absolute and unconditional support for the government"''. In 1983, Rodríguez, Federico Willoughby-MacDonald and Gastón Acuña founded the National Action Movement (MAN), after the political opening in 1983 by minister Sérgio Onofre Jarpa. In 1987, the MAN disbanded after leader Federico Willoughby left the party.

1989 presidential candidate

Between 1988 and 1989 he tried to be a candidate for the presidency in the presidential elections by

, in which he hoped to receive the support of the government, but he failed after the lack of support from sectors of the right (especially

UDI Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi Hills, Enugu State, Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People Given name * Udi Aloni (born 1959), Israeli-American film ...

and RN) and the government, in which he supported the candidacy of Hernan Buchi. After

Patricio Aylwin Patricio Aylwin Azócar (; 26 November 1918 – 19 April 2016) was a Chilean politician from the Christian Democratic Party of Chile, Christian Democratic Party, lawyer, author, professor and former senator. He was the 30th president of Chil ...

's victory in the 1989 elections, Pinochet called an urgent meeting in the city of La Moneda with some representatives, in which Rodríguez was one of them. He showed Pinochet a typewriter and introduced him by stating ''"With this typewriter I can write a letter by virtue of which this gentleman's election is legally null and void."'', in which Pinochet looked at him silently, but then ignored.

Other later participations in politics

He focused on law after losing the 1989 election, in which, after defending Pinochet from criminal proceedings, he became the target of protests in 2006, against his terrorist past and his relationship with human rights violations, among others. On average, there were 500 people at the protest, in which protesters held up signs calling him a terrorist. In the same (2006), they tried to reconstitute Fatherland and Liberty, but the proposal did not receive support and Rodríguez himself rejected it, stating: ''“Under my leadership, Fatherland and Liberty will never be reconstituted”''.

Criminal Accusations

In general, he was accused of 1970s terrorism and sabotage, especially against Salvador Allende, by Fatherland and Liberty. He was even investigated by the Human Rights Investigations Police, for the

attacks, in which they would be financed by the

, and the collaboration with the Pinochet coup in 1973. He denies the accusations that Fatherland and Liberty had murdered someone and that would have been funded by the

. In October 1970, he held a demonstration at the Catholic university, in which a high-powered bomb had exploded at the stock exchange agency and then a dynamite attack hit the Providencia branch of Banco Francés e Italiano. There were also other terrorist attacks and sabotage, especially in the region of 'El tancazo' (now Tanquetazo), where there were bomb attacks and destruction of private property in an attempt to overthrow Allende. In July 1973, Fatherland and Liberty militants murdered Arturo Araya Peeters, in which he and members of the FNPL were prosecuted and arrested by the naval prosecutor's office, but were released after some "paps on the ears", except Guillermo Claverie, in which he claimed that was innocent and had been a scapegoat for Rodríguez. All the conspirators were pardoned by Pinochet in 1981, for “services rendered to the Fatherland”.

Lawyer career

Augusto Pinochet's lawyer

He was Pinochet's lawyer until his death in 2006. He defended Pinochet on the criminal charges that came under his rule, even though he was disappointed in Chilean justice. Pinochet died on December 10, 2006, leaving several cases pending.

Operation Colombo

Rodríguez defended Pinochet in the

Operation Colombo Operation Colombo, or the Case of the 119, was an operation undertaken by the DINA (the Chilean secret police) in 1975 to make political dissidents disappear. At least 119 people are alleged to have been abducted and later killed. The objective ...

Case, in which Pinochet had been accused of being an actor in an operation that caused 119 opponents to be executed or disappeared in 1975. He defended Pinochet with energy, in which he denied the torture, disappearances or murders committed by the regime. and that ''"this is an offense to the figure of Pinochet"''. He accused the courts of manipulation and later waived the amparo claim.

Caravan of death

He also defended Pinochet from the “

Caravan of Death The Caravan of Death () was a Chilean Army death squad that, following the Chilean coup of 1973, flew by helicopters from south to north of Chile between September 30 and October 22, 1973. During this foray, members of the squad ordered or pe ...

” investigations, in which he was first prosecuted in 2000 by

Juan Guzmán Tapia Juan Salvador Guzmán Tapia (; 22 April 1939 – 22 January 2021) was a Chilean judge. He was the first Chilean judge to lead investigations and prosecute Augusto Pinochet for violations of human rights during his dictatorship between 1973 a ...

. Pinochet had been accused of being the author of crimes committed by the

, led by Sergio Arellano Stark in 1973, executing 75 political prisoners. Rodríguez was confident that the court would overturn the charges and sent seven lawyers together.

Riggs Case

Another case that Rodríguez defended was the Riggs Case, along with Fernando Rabat Celis. He defended Pinochet and

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

, in which Pinochet had been accused of embezzling public funds, held in secret accounts at

Riggs Bank Riggs Bank was a bank headquartered in Washington, D.C. For most of its history, it was the largest bank headquartered in that city. On May 13, 2005, after the exposure of several money laundering scandals, the bank was acquired by PNC Financia ...

. He stated about the case that: ''"We are going to appeal to the court for this to be sanctioned in an exemplary way, because it is not possible for situations of this kind to occur in Chile"'', in addition to saying ''"there are abundant antecedents that motivate the decision on the existence of the crime of embezzlement of public funds, substantiated accusations (...) that these persons participated in this crime"''.

Other cases

He is a partner at the law firm Rodríguez Vergara y Compañía, along with 3 other partners. Rodríguez defended the savers of the union-run financial company La Familia, which had gone bankrupt in 1977, causing Rodríguez to issue an arrest warrant against

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

, being informed of the warrant at an airport, in which Rodríguez was criticized by unionists and

Chicago boys The Chicago Boys were a group of Chilean economists prominent around the 1970s and 1980s, the majority of whom were educated at the Department of Economics of the University of Chicago under Larry Sjaastad, Milton Friedman, and Arnold Harberger, ...

. He also defended

walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

from accusations of violating the Consumer Protection Act in 2013, along with Pedro Pablo Vergara, in which he claimed the law came to establish 6 months before the lawsuit.

Political views

Their ideals were linked to the ideals of Fatherland and Liberty, which were generally based on nationalism or

ultranationalism Ultranationalism, or extreme nationalism, is an extremist form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its specific i ...

, economic

corporatism Corporatism is an ideology and political system of interest representation and policymaking whereby Corporate group (sociology), corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, come toget ...

, the fascist matrix, rejection of

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

and

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

and the establishment of a "functional democracy". In general, his views are considered traditional and right-wing. Other ideals could be anti-oligarchic,

anti-imperialism Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is opposition to imperialism or neocolonialism. Anti-imperialist sentiment typically manifests as a political principle in independence struggles against intervention or influen ...

and

anticlericalism Anti-clericalism is opposition to clergy, religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historically, anti-clericalism in Christian traditions has been opposed to the influence of Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secul ...

, in which they appeared in a proposed constitution of the Frente Nacional y Popular. As mentioned, he has a corporatist economic opinion, on which he based himself on

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

's corporatist theses, ignoring

neoliberalism Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pe ...

, which made him diverge from Pinochet. His

is eminent when he praised the dictatorship's repression, in which he told Pinochet and his colleagues that ''"...ultimately, the Chilean government, the military and the Armed Forces saved the country from a thousand years of communism..."'' and also that: ''"It was he who led the rescue of Chile from the hands of communism, which today, abusing public credibility, is dressed in sheep's clothing, flaunting its false democratic ideals."'' Even though he was loyal to Pinochet, he criticized the Pinochet government in relation to

authoritarianism Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...

, stating that: ''“So to say that we are not within this rule of law within this concept of authoritarian government, in my opinion, is a fallacy that does us a lot of harm”''. Rodríguez defends the 1980 constitution, being against the change, saying that it is dangerous because (according to him) it would ideologize the country, in addition to saying that it prevented "

totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public s ...

" between 1970 and 1973. He is also in favor of private campuses and a strong critic of Chilean education, saying that Chilean education “desires to impose a totalitarian ideology”. He criticizes education stating: ''“the reality of our higher education in the last five decades shows a growing deterioration of academic quality, precisely because it has been the favorite terrain of those who try to subject it to its obscurity…”.''

Academic life

He has been a professor of civil law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile since 1978, being elected the best professor in the years 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1991, becoming Dean in 2017. He also specializes in the civil and commercial litigation area of the firm Rodríguez Vergara & Compañía, in which he is a partner. He was proposed as dean for the law faculty of the

University of Chile The University of Chile () is a public university, public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

in 1997, but had to withdraw after some student groups took over the university, leaving 35 years of work at the university, in which he had to go to private education. He was also dean of the Faculty of Law at University for Development for almost 2 decades, but resigned in 2016.

Works

Judicial works

* ''Memoria: Estudio crítico de la porción conyugal y los bienes reservados de la mujer casada (1962).'' * ''De la relatividad jurídica (1965);'' * ''Teoría de la interpretación jurídica (1990);'' * ''De las posesiones inútiles en la legislación chilena (1991 y 1995);'' * ''La obligación como deber de conducta típica: la teoría de la imprevisión (1992);'' * ''Instituciones de Derecho Sucesorio, volumen I (1993) y volumen II (1994);'' * ''Inexistencia y nulidad en el Código Civil chileno (1995);'' * ''Regímenes patrimoniales (1996 y 1997);'' * ''El abuso del derecho y el abuso circunstancial (1998 y 1999);'' * ''El derecho como creación colectiva (1999);'' * ''Responsabilidad extracontractual (1999 y 2002);'' * ''Estructura funcional del derecho (2001);'' * ''Responsabilidad contractual (2003);'' * ''Extinción convencional de las obligaciones, volumen I (2006);'' * ''Sobre el origen, funcionamiento y contenido valórico del derecho, (2006);''

Other works

* ''Entre la democracia y la tiranía (1972)'' * ''Bálsamo de juventud: (poemas) (1975)'' * ''¿Democracia liberal o democracia orgánica? (1977)'' * ''Perspectivas del proceso institucional chileno (1985) (coautor: René Abeliuk Manasevich);'' * ''El mito de la democracia en Chile (1985);''

Awards

* Pedro Nicolás Montenegro Award (1960) * Best Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile (1986, 1988, 1989 and 1991) * Award "Best Lawyer in Civil Law", by " Qué Pasa" Magazine (2009)

References

External links

Quién es Pablo Rodríguez Grez, el abogado de Lucía Hiriart
- elciudadano.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez Grea, Pablo 1937 births Living people 20th-century Chilean lawyers Chilean fascists Members of Fatherland and Liberty University of Chile alumni Politicians from Santiago, Chile 21st-century Chilean lawyers