Alejandro Victor Manuel Rojas Wainer (31 January 1945 – 16 April 2018) was a Chilean-Canadian academic. He was elected to the

Chamber of Deputies of Chile The Chamber of Deputies () is the lower house of Chile's Bicameralism, bicameral National Congress of Chile, Congress. Its organisation and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of Chile's current Chilean Constitution of 1980, ...

for Popular Unity in 1973, but left office after the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

. Subsequently, he moved to Canada, and taught at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. Rojas Wainer was born in Santiago on 31 January 1945. He attended the Manuel de Salas Experimental School affiliated with 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.

. Upon graduation, he was accepted into the University of Chile Dental School. Rojas Wainer became the first person elected to three terms as leader the

University of Chile Student Federation The University of Chile Student Federation (, abbreviated as FECh) is an organization that represents all students enrolled in both undergraduate and postgraduate programs at the University of Chile. FECh includes the student associations from va ...

, serving between from 1970 to 1973. While in college, he was active with the

Communist Youth of Chile The Communist Youth of Chile (, JJ.CC. / La Jota) is the youth wing of the Communist Party of Chile. It was founded on September 5, 1932, and it incorporates young communist activists between the ages of 14 and 28. The JJ.CC has political represe ...

. Rojas Wainer was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the Popular Unity political coalition in 1973, while still president of the student federation. After the coup d'état forced

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 ...

out of power, Rojas Wainer left Chile to pursue graduate studies at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

and

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

. He remained in Canada, teaching at the University of British Columbia. Rojas Wainer died of cancer at the age of 73 on 16 April 2018 in Vancouver.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rojas Wainer, Alejandro 1945 births 2018 deaths Deaths from cancer in British Columbia Communist Party of Chile politicians Politicians from Santiago, Chile Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile Chilean emigrants to Canada Chilean exiles University of Chile alumni York University alumni University of Geneva alumni Academic staff of the University of British Columbia