Gonzalo Fernando Blumel Mac-Iver (born 17 May 1978) is a Chilean politician, civil environmental engineer and economist who served as Minister of the Interior and Public Security of Chile during

Sebastián Piñera Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique (; 1 December 1949 – 6 February 2024) was a Chilean businessman and politician who served as President of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022. The son of a Christian Democratic Party (C ...

second government (2018–2022).

Biography

He is the son of Juan Enrique Blumel Méndez – grandson of the German

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

Santiago Blümel and Rosa Ancán, daughter of a

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

lonko A lonko or lonco (from Mapudungun ''longko'', literally "head"), is a chief of several Mapuche communities. These were often Ulmen (Mapuche), ulmen, the wealthier men in the lof. In wartime, lonkos of the various local rehue or the larger aillarehu ...

from

Nueva Imperial Nueva Imperial (New Imperial, in English) is a city and commune in the south of Chile. It is located in Cautín Province in the Araucanía Region. Nueva Imperial lies about to the west of Temuco, the regional capital. Geography Nueva Imperial i ...

– and Emma Francisca Mac-Iver Prieto, great-granddaughter of Enrique Mac Iver (politician of

Radical Party of Chile The Radical Party (Spanish: ''Partido Radical'') was a Chilean political party. It was formed in 1863 in Copiapó by a split in the Liberal Party. Not coincidentally, it was formed shortly after the organization of the Grand Lodge of Chile, and ...

's liberal faction) and of Emma Ovalle Gutiérrez, granddaughter of Chilean President José Tomás Ovalle (1830–1831).

Political career

He began his career in 2001 as a researcher at

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (UC Chile; ) is a traditional private university based in Santiago, Chile. It is one of the thirteen Catholic universities existing in Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical unive ...

Center for the Environment of the Department of Industrial Engineering. In 2005, he assumed as planning secretary of the Municipality of Futrono. Later, he worked as a researcher for the environment program of Libertad y Desarrollo, right–wing think tank linked with

libertarian conservatism Libertarian conservatism, also referred to as conservative libertarianism and, more rarely, ''conservatarianism'', is a political and social philosophy that combines conservatism and libertarianism, representing the libertarian wing of conser ...

ideas then represented by the party

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, law professor and senator Jaime Guzmán, a civilian a ...

(known in Spanish for his acronym: «UDI»), organization promoted by

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

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

through his ideologist: the lawyer

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 ...

(UDI founder). He performed in three charges during President Piñera's first government, being – from March to July 2010 – Staff Chief of

Cristián Larroulet Cristián Patricio Larroulet Vignau (born 1953 in Temuco) was the Minister General Secretariat of the Presidency of Chile under President Sebastián Piñera. He served as the Head of Advisors to the Presidency of the Republic in the second admini ...

(UDI), General Secretariat of the Presidency. Later, he was head of Studies Division in the same ministry and, finally, in March 2013, he became the president's chief adviser. Once finished Piñera's first government, he was the CEO of Avanza Chile Foundation as well as he taught lessons also at PUC, his alma mater, or

Universidad del Desarrollo Universidad del Desarrollo (Spanish: ''Universidad del Desarrollo'') is a Chilean private university. Its main campus is in Santiago de Chile, with a secondary campus in Concepción. History The University was founded in Concepción in 1990, ...

(UDD). In 2016, he was one of founding member of the party

Political Evolution Politics () 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 status or resources. The branch of social science that studies poli ...

, known in Chile for its acronym «Evópoli». When Piñera returned to the presidency in 2018, Blumel was appointed as Minister Secretary General, the same charge where he collaborated with Larroulet. He served there until 28 October 2019, when he was called by Piñera to take the Ministry of the Interior charge amid 2019–20 riots in Chile commonly known as Estallido Social de Chile.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blumel, Gonzalo 1978 births Living people Alumni of the University of Birmingham Chilean civil engineers Chilean people of German descent Chilean people of British descent Chilean people of Mapuche descent Environmental engineers Evópoli politicians Politicians from Santiago, Chile People from Talca Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni Ministers of the interior of Chile