José Andrés Rafael Zaldívar Larraín, (born March 18, 1936) popularly known as ''El Chico Zaldívar'' ("Short Zaldívar"), is a prominent

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 ...

Christian Democrat Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian ethics#Politics, Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo ...

politician. Andrés Zaldívar is of

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

descent.

Early years

Zaldívar was born in

Santiago, Chile 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 attended primary and secondary school at the Instituto Alonso de Ercilla de Santiago, a member of the Congregación de los Hermanos Maristas. In 1959 Zaldívar graduated from the

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile () is a public research university in 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 co ...

, having written the thesis ''Rental Laws, Commentaries and Jurisprudence''. In 1952 Zaldívar began his political career by joining the '' Conservative Party''. while attending university, he participated in the International Congress of Students in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1956 representing Chile, as the Secretary of the Union of Federated Universities of Chile. In 1957 he joined the Christian Democrat Party, and served as Juvenile President for Santiago's Third District. Zaldívar practiced law in the Municipality of Colina from 1959 to 1962, then became magistrate of the local police of

La Cisterna La Cisterna (, Spanish for "the cistern") is a commune and census-designated city in Santiago Province, part of the Santiago Metropolitan Region of Chile. Founded on 30 May 1925, it is part of the urban area of Greater Santiago. Demographics ...

Political career

In the government of Eduardo Frei, Zaldívar served as Undersecretary of Finance from 1964 to 1967. He became Minister of Finance in 1968 and Minister of both Finance and Economy, in 1970. From 1968 to 1970, Zaldívar served as governor of the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

and was representative to the Interamerican Committee of the Alliance for Progress in

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

from 1968 to 1969 and representative to the Economic and Social Committee in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

in 1970. During the years of the '' Popular Unity'' coalition, Zaldívar served many different posts within the party: from 1970 to 1973 he was a national counselor of the Christian Democrats, in 1972 he became a member of the Political Committee, and from 1976 to 1982 he was the president of the Christian Democrats. As such, he became one of the main leaders of the opposition to the Pinochet military regime at that time.

Military regime

In 1973, Zaldívar for the first time became a member of the National Congress of Chile, upon election to the Senate of Chile for the Second Provincial District of Atacama and Coquimbo, joining the Economic Committee of Congress. However, after the

Chilean coup of 1973 Chilean may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Chile, a country in South America * Chilean people * Chilean Spanish * Chilean culture * Chilean cuisine * Chilean Americans See also *List of Chileans This is a list of Chileans who ar ...

, Congress was dissolved on September 21 and Zaldívar went into exile with his family in Spain. Returning to Chile the following year, Zaldívar became president of the Christian Democrat Party, from 1975 to 1982. In exile, Zaldívar was made President of the International Christian Democrats, an international organization of political parties, from 1981 to 1986, when he became a member of its advisory council. In 1981, furthermore, Zaldívar was a founding member of Center for Research for Ibero-America and Spain (CIPIE) in Spain, holding the position of president. In 1988, he joined the successful "No" campaign for the national plebiscite of that year. Also in 1988, Zaldívar again became the president of his party for another two years.

Administrations of the ''Concertación''

In 1989, Zaldívar was elected Senator for the VII District of West Santiago, in one of the most hard-fought elections in history. Zaldívar received 31.27% of the vote while his partner on the list, future president

Ricardo Lagos Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar (; born 2 March 1938) is a Chilean lawyer, economist and social-democratic politician who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. During the 1980s he was a well-known opponent of the Chilean military di ...

, received 30.62%. Due to Chile's

binomial voting system The binomial system () is a voting system that was used in the legislative elections of Chile between 1989 and 2013. The binomial system is the D'Hondt method with an open list where ''every'' constituency returns ''two'' (hence the name) repr ...

(where parties or coalitions of parties select lists of one or more candidates, and the top candidate from each of the top two lists is elected when the top list gets less than twice the second-place list) and since no concessions could get double the votes of the

Democracy and Progress Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

, Andrés Zaldívar and the

Independent Democrat 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 al ...

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 ...

, who only received 17.91% of the vote were elected. At this time, Zaldívar joined the Senate Public Works Committee and presided over the Finance Committee. In December of the same year, he was re-elected Senator with 27.77% of the vote. His partner on the list,

Camilo Escalona Camilo Escalona Medina is a Chilean politician. He was the President of the Senate. He served as chairman of the Socialist Party of Chile The Socialist Party of Chile (, or PS) is a centre-left to Left-wing politics, left-wing political part ...

, received 15.98% principally due to the migration of votes from the left to the candidate of the

Communist Party of Chile The Communist Party of Chile (, ) is a communist party in Chile. It was founded in 1912 as the Socialist Workers' Party () and adopted its current name in 1922. The party established a youth wing, the Communist Youth of Chile (, JJ.CC), in 1932. ...

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, who received 15.69% of the vote. This allowed Zaldívar to be elected together with the conservative Jovino Novoa, with 20.56% of the vote. FreiRuiz-Tagle Zaldivar

During the second period since the rise of democracy, Zaldívar participated in the Constitution, Legislation, Justice, and Regulation Committees and presided over the Interior Administration Committee. In March 1998, Zaldívar was elected

President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the Speaker (politics), speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's Order of succession, succes ...

, a post that he held until August 15, 2004. In 1999, Zaldívar was a candidate for President of Chile, representing the Christian Democrat Party for the primary election of the Chilean presidential election of that year. Meanwhile, the coalition PPD/PS ( Party for Democracy and

Socialist Party of Chile The Socialist Party of Chile (, or PS) is a centre-left to Left-wing politics, left-wing political party founded in 1933. Its historic leader was President of Chile Salvador Allende, who was deposed in a 1973 Chilean coup d'état, coup d'état by ...

) elected Ricardo Lagos as its primary candidate. In that year, the

Coalition of Parties for Democracy A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

(the ''Concertación'') held a primary to decide between the two. Lagos won the vote, with 71.3% of the vote to Zaldívar's 28.7%. In 2005, Zaldívar ran for the third consecutive time for the Senate seat of West Santiago at the Chilean parliamentary election of December 11, facing the

Deputy Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...

Guido Girardi Guido Girardi Lavín (born 24 January 1961) is a Chilean doctor and politician. He was a senator in district no. 7 for Santiago Poniente. He previously served as the president of that chamber. He usually takes progressive stances on social is ...

(PPD) (his coalition partner on the list), the Senator Jovino Novoa (UDI), and the businessman Roberto Fantuzzi (Independent); the latter two members of the Alliance for Chile coalition. Despite a strong campaign, Zaldívar did not retain his seat in the senate, although he exceeded the top candidate of his opponents' list, since the Democratic Coalition's votes did not double that of the Alliance for Chile, fellow Democratic Coalition member

was elected and Alliance for Chile member, the founder and president of

, Jovino Novoa was reelected. However, in later days, Zaldívar became a leader and chief strategist of

Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2014 to 2018, becoming the first woman to hold the presidency. She was re-elected in December ...

presidential campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referen ...

. After the victory of the socialist candidate Bachelet, Zaldívar was appointed as her Minister of the Interior. On 21 March 2017 he succeeded Ricardo Lagos Weber as President of the Senate.

Trivia

* Zaldívar's nickname, "Chico" alias "Shorty", comes from his extremely short height. * In the Chilean

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar Drama (film and television), drama genres around the w ...

''Hippie'', set in the early 1970s, Zaldívar had a small cameo as himself since at that time he was a member of the Congress. He was shown being interviewed by a group of college students outside of the National Congress in Santiago.

Notes and references

Official website of Andrés Zaldívar

Government Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaldivar, Andres 1936 births Living people Ministers of the interior of Chile Ministers of economy of Chile Ministers of finance of Chile Chilean democracy activists Chilean people of Basque descent Politicians from Santiago, Chile Christian Democratic Party (Chile) politicians Presidents of the Senate of Chile Candidates for President of Chile Zaldivar Senators of the XLVII Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Senators of the XLVIII Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Senators of the XLIX Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Senators of the L Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Senators of the LI Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Senators of the LIII Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Senators of the LIV Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile