Juan Eduardo Simián Gallet (16 November 1915 − 14 December 1995) was a Chilean

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who served as minister of State during

Eduardo Frei Montalva Eduardo Nicanor Frei Montalva (; 16 January 1911 – 22 January 1982) was a Chileans, Chilean political leader. In his long political career, he was Minister of Public Works, president of his Christian Democratic Party (Chile), Christia ...

's government. Simián is considered a historical player of

Club Universidad de Chile Club Universidad de Chile () is a professional Association football, football club based in Santiago, Chile, that plays in the Chilean Primera División, Primera División. Founded on 24 May 1927, Universidad de Chile is one of the most success ...

Football career

Club career

Simián began his career at

aged 20 while he was doing his BA in

mining engineering Mining engineering is the extraction of minerals from the ground. It is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, metallurgy, geotechnical engineering and surveying. A mining engineer m ...

at 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.

, where he graduated in 1938. During the 1938 Primera División de Chile season, he was part of the Universidad de Chile champion team which obtained the First Division title under the orders of the player-coach Luis Tirado. Simian's impressive performances led the press to consider him as one of the best players of early Chilean football. In 1940, Simián stopped his football career after obtaining a scholarship from the Production Development Corporation (Corfo) to research in the US on geological exploration, geophysics, and drilling of exploration wells. Once ended his spell in the US, in 1942, he returned to play in Universidad de Chile, but only for the Clásico Universitario. In 1946, Simián definitely retired from football aged 31 after playing another Clásico Universitario with Universidad de Chile. In total, he made fifty two appearances for them between 1938 and 1946.

International career

He played in three matches for the

Chile national football team The Chile national football team (), nicknamed ''La Roja'' (), represents Chile in men's international Association football, football competitions and is controlled by the Football Federation of Chile, Federación de Fútbol de Chile (), which ...

in 1939. He was also part of Chile's squad for the

1939 South American Championship The fifteenth edition of the South American Championship was held in Lima, Peru from 15 January to 12 February. Overview The participating countries were Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Although CONMEBOL members since 1927, this t ...

Political career

Beginnings at ENAP

After his experience in the US, the Corfo hired him in the early 1940s to plan operations in southern Chile. As head of the drilling team, on 29 September 1945, Simián participated in the discovery of the first oil well in the

Magallanes Region The Magallanes Region (), officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region () or Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctica Region in English, is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is the southernmost, largest, and sec ...

. In 1950, the president

Gabriel González Videla Gabriel Enrique González Videla (; 22 November 1898 – 22 August 1980) was a Chilean politician and lawyer who served as the 24th president of Chile from 1946 to 1952. He had previously been a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1930 ...

—from the Radical Party (PR)—appointed him as the production manager of the state-owned company

Empresa Nacional del Petróleo Empresa Nacional del Petróleo, or ENAP (English: ''National Petroleum Company'') is a state-owned company in Chile, based in Las Condes. The company is engaged in the exploration, production, refining, and marketing of hydrocarbons and their de ...

(ENAP).

1958 parliamentary campaign

In 1958, Simián failed to reach a seat in the

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 ...

after losing the elections of the 8th District of

San Miguel San Miguel, Spanish for Saint Michael, may refer to: Places Argentina *San Miguel Partido *San Miguel, Buenos Aires * San Miguel, Catamarca * San Miguel, Corrientes * San Miguel, La Rioja *San Miguel Arcángel, a Volga German colony in Adolfo Al ...

. During his campaign, he was supported by

Sergio Livingstone Serjio Robert "Sergio" Livingstone Pohlhammer (26 March 1920 – 11 September 2012) was a Chilean goalkeeper, who later became a well-regarded journalist. He was nicknamed "El Sapo" ("the toad") for his typical posture in the goal. From 1938 t ...

El Mercurio (known online as ''El Mercurio On-Line'', ''EMOL'') is a Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. is owned by El Mercurio S.A.P. (''Sociedad Anónima Periodística'' 'joint stock news company'), which operates a network of ...

, 5 March 1958, page 15. See also the section «Notes» in Brenda Elsey's book ''Citizen & Sportsmen". Fútbol & Politics in 20th-Century Chile''.

Minister of Mining

In 1964, the elected president

called him to serve as Minister of Mining, an office he accepted and served until 1966. During Simián's administration occurred the first stage of the

Chilean nationalization of copper The nationalization of the Chilean copper industry, commonly described as the Chilenization of copper () was the process by which the Chilean government acquired control of the major foreign-owned section of the Chilean copper mining industry. I ...

. The official initiative—also known as 'agreed nationalization'—was sent by Frei to the

National Congress National Congress is a term used in the names of various political parties and legislatures. Political parties *Ethiopia: Oromo National Congress, original name of the Oromo People's Congress *Guyana: People's National Congress Reform *India: **In ...

in September 1965. After an arduous debate, the text was approved in January 1966, giving rise to Law N°16.425 and the creation of the Chilean Copper Corporation, the seed of

Codelco The National Copper Corporation of Chile (), abbreviated as Codelco, is a Chilean state-owned mining company and the largest copper mining company in the world. It was formed in 1976 from foreign-owned copper companies that were nationalised in 1 ...

(National Copper Corporation of Chile). Similarly, in 1966, was enacted Law N°16.624. It created mixed companies owned in a 51% by the Chilean State.

Late career

In 1973, he became General Manager at ENAP (Empresa Nacional del Petróleo). In 1988, he was one of the founders of the political movement Independientes por el Consenso Democrático.

References

Works cited

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simian, Eduardo 1915 births 1995 deaths Footballers from Santiago, Chile Chilean men's footballers Chile men's international footballers Club Universidad de Chile footballers Chilean Primera División players Men's association football goalkeepers University of Chile alumni Politicians from Santiago, Chile 20th-century Chilean politicians Christian Democratic Party (Chile) politicians Ministers of mining of Chile Chilean sportsperson-politicians 20th-century Chilean sportsmen