Joaquín José Lavín Infante (born 23 October 1953) is 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 eas ...
an
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, ...
of the
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 and law professor Jaime Guzmán, a civilian allied wit ...
(UDI) party and former mayor of
Las Condes
Las Condes is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. The area is inhabited primarily by upper-mid- to high income families, and known in the Chilean collective consciousness as home to the country's economi ...
, in the
northeastern zone of Santiago. Formerly Lavín has also been mayor of
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 ...
,
Minister of Education and Minister of Social Development. He ran for president twice in
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
and
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...
, losing both times. In 2021 he tried to run again, but this time he was defeated in a primary election by
Sebastián Sichel
Sebastián Iglesias Sichel Ramírez (born 30 July 1977) is a Chilean lawyer, professor, ex minister of State and politician who served as president of the () from June 2020 until December 2020. He also previously served as Minister of Social ...
. Besides his political involvement Lavín has been active in education in the
University for Development, of which he was one of the founders and original owners, and as editor of the economics section in ''
El Mercurio
''El Mercurio'' (known online as ''El Mercurio On-Line'', ''EMOL'') is a Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. Its Santiago edition is considered the country's newspaper of record and it is considered the oldest daily in ...
''.
His wife,
son
A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative.
Social issues
In pre-industrial societies and some curren ...
and
daughter-in-law have also been elected politicians.
Early life and career
Lavin was born on 23 October 1953 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 ...
to Joaquín Lavín Pradenas and Carmen Infante Vial. Lavin's father is believed to have owned over 500
hectares
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...
of land. Lavin studied
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...
at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, where he studied under
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the ...
, one of many "
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 Milton Friedman and Arnold Harberger, or at its affiliat ...
" to influence Chilean politics.
Lavin is married to María Estela León Ruíz, and the couple have 7 children, including federal deputy
Joaquín Lavín León.
Career
Lavín was present in the
Acto de Chacarillas
The Acto de Chacarillas was a ritualized youth event held in the summit of Cerro Chacarillas in Santiago, Chile on 9 July 1977 organized by the military dictatorship of Chile. It was organized by the Frente Juvenil de Unidad Nacional to commemorat ...
in 1977,
a ritualized pro-Pinochet act reminiscent of
Francoist Spain
Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spani ...
.
In the period of 1979–1981 at the age of 26 he was appointed as a Dean of Economic Department at Concepción University. From 1981 until 1986 Lavin was a desk-editor of ''Economics and Business'' in the newspaper ''
El Mercurio
''El Mercurio'' (known online as ''El Mercurio On-Line'', ''EMOL'') is a Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. Its Santiago edition is considered the country's newspaper of record and it is considered the oldest daily in ...
''. In 1990 he founded with other partners the private
Universidad del Desarrollo.
His professional life was always connected with politics and the first step toward this was done when he became a mayor of Las Condes in 1992.
He wrote a book, ''Una revolución silenciosa'' ("A Quiet Revolution"), in support of General
Augusto 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 ...
's economic policies. Afterwards, in 1992, Lavín was elected mayor of
Las Condes
Las Condes is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. The area is inhabited primarily by upper-mid- to high income families, and known in the Chilean collective consciousness as home to the country's economi ...
, a stronghold of the right, with 31% of the vote and reelected in 1997 with 78% of the vote.
Lavín was the presidential candidate for the UDI-
National Renewal coalition
Alliance for Chile
The Alliance ( es, Alianza), previously known as Alliance for Chile ( es, Alianza por Chile), was a coalition of centre-right to right-wing Chilean political parties. The Alliance was replaced between 2009 and 2012 by the Coalition for Change. ...
in the
1999 election. He eventually lost to
PS/
PPD candidate
Ricardo Lagos in a runoff by 200,000 votes. Lavín again represented UDI in the
2005 presidential election, but ended in third place with 23.23% of the vote, due to the presence of another right-wing candidate in the race,
Sebastián Piñera
Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique OMCh (; born 1 December 1949) is a Chilean billionaire 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 polit ...
, who made it to the runoff election with 25.41% of the vote.
Lavín was narrowly defeated in his bid for a
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
seat in the
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
held in December 2009, but on 10 February 2010, President-elect
Sebastián Piñera
Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique OMCh (; born 1 December 1949) is a Chilean billionaire 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 polit ...
named him Secretary of Education.
In July 2011, President Piñera replaced Lavín as Minister of Education by
Felipe Bulnes as a response to the
months of student protest and appointed him as Minister of Social Development (2011-2013).
[http://www.latercera.com/noticia/politica/2011/07/674-380393-9-pinera-opta-por-mantener-a-hinzpeter-incorporar-a-longueira-y-cambiar-de.shtml Canales, Javier. ]La Tercera
''La Tercera'' ( es, The Third One), formerly known as ''La Tercera de la Hora'' ('the third of the hour'), is a daily newspaper published in Santiago, Chile and owned by Copesa. It is ''El Mercurio''s closest competitor.
''La Tercera'' is part ...
18 July 2011. Access date 18 July 2011
In 2016 he was elected mayor of Las Condes again getting 78% of the vote.
He is now Dean of the Business School of the Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD).
Lavín is a devout
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
and also a
supernumerary member of the Prealature of
Opus Dei
Opus Dei, formally known as the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei ( la, Praelatura Sanctae Crucis et Operis Dei), is an institution of the Catholic Church whose members seek personal Christian holiness and strive to imbue their work ...
.
On 16 July 2017, Lavín garnered controversy after he hung a
rainbow flag
A rainbow flag is a multicolored flag consisting of the colors of the rainbow. The designs differ, but many of the colors are based on the spectral colors of the visible light spectrum.
The LGBT flag introduced in 1978 is the most recognize ...
over the town hall.
This prompted criticism from former presidential candidate
José Antonio Kast, himself a former UDI member, who said that there was a "gay dictatorship" in Chile that "corners certain politicians who do not have the courage to say things as they believe them". Lavín had also refused to allow the anti-transgender Bus of Freedom, a bus created by the
CitizenGo initiative HazteOir, to pass through Las Condes.
Lavín had claimed that his refusal to allow the bus to pass through was related to a timing issue. On 20 July, he had expressed openness to same-sex adoption.
During his campaigning to run for the Chilean presidency a noticeable effort was made by his parti UDI to put him at the forefront of all public television channels. He was frequently invited as a guest in morning shows, where he talked about politics and also did some more casual and relaxed appareances. The public nevertheless noticed that he was constantly invited to these TV shows as means of political strategy to make people feel that he is a relatable figure. Due to the constant mocking and comments in social media about the exacerbated appareances he gradually stopped appearing on TV.
References
External links
Joaquín Lavín - Senador Quinta Costa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavin, Joaquin
1953 births
Living people
Chilean Roman Catholics
Chilean people of Spanish descent
Chilean anti-communists
Independent Democratic Union politicians
Chilean Ministers of Education
Candidates for President of Chile
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni
University of Chicago alumni
Opus Dei members
Mayors of Santiago
Mayors of Las Condes
University for Development faculty