John Macarewich Cobin (born 10 March 1963) is a U.S. born blogger, convicted criminal, and social commentator. He renounced his US citizenship in December 2015 and holds a Chilean citizenship. He has taught at various Chilean institutions and was arrested after opening fire at protesters who were blocking the road during the Chilean social unrest of 2019 in Reñaca, being released in 2025.

Biography

John Cobin was born to Joan Audrey Cobin

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Tagliere (born 1929), a nurse from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, and George Cobin (1939-1966), a mathematician from

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. His father died from cancer in April 1966. He studied at various educational institutions including Reformed Bible College,

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a Public university, public university system in California, and the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest public university system in the United States ...

, the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

, and

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

. He holds a Ph.D. in

Public Policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

, an M.A. in economics, and an A.R.E. in Liberal Arts and Religious Studies. He left the U.S. to live in Chile first in 1996, in protest of

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

's government due to its policies regarding

tax A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...

ation. The following year, he became a part-time economics lecturer. In 2006, he ran for Congress in

South Carolina's 4th congressional district South Carolina's 4th congressional district is a congressional district in upstate South Carolina bordering North Carolina. It includes parts of Greenville and Spartanburg counties. The district includes the two major cities of Greenville ...

as a member of the Libertarian party. He lost, earning 4,467 votes, or 2.5% of the total count. During this time period, he was accused of choking, pushing and shoving his second wife multiple times during an argument over the custody of their son, causing her injuries. He denied all accusations, but was ultimately arrested on charges of domestic violence. All of the charges were ultimately dropped. He fled the country shortly thereafter. He subsequently objected to paying either of his former wives child support, and is now estranged from many of his children. John Cobin and his wife

In 2012, along with three other Americans, he founded a libertarian compound in the Chilean mountainside, titled "Galt’s Gulch", named in honor of the fictional capitalist society represented in

Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; , 1905March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system which s ...

’s novel, ''

Atlas Shrugged ''Atlas Shrugged'' is a 1957 novel by Ayn Rand. It is her longest novel, the fourth and final one published during her lifetime, and the one she considered her ''magnum opus'' in the realm of fiction writing. She described the theme of ''Atlas ...

''. The venture ultimately failed. In 2013, he claimed that "there is no one more

neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

than me in the country" in an interview with The Clinic. He also claimed that he was friends with

Hermógenes Pérez de Arce Ibieta Hermógenes Pérez de Arce Ibieta (born 10 January 1936) is a Chilean people, Chilean lawyer and politician who served as Chamber of Deputies (Chile), deputy during Salvador Allende's government. In his country, he is commonly known for being a ...

, a right-wing Chilean politician, and

Axel Kaiser Axel Kaiser (born 4 July 1981) is a Chilean writer, lawyer and political scientist known for his work on classical liberalism and free-market economics. Kaiser is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society and has published articles in Forbes and othe ...

, a Chilean political scientist. Until 2015, he was an economics teacher at the

Andrés Bello National University The Andrés Bello University (; UNAB) is a Chilean private university founded in 1988. Rankings UNAB is ranked 56th among Latin American universities in 2022, and Andrés Bello University currently ranked 8th among Chilean universities accord ...

. He renounced his US citizenship in December 2015.

2019 Reñaca shooting

On November 10, 2019 he opened fire on Chilean demonstrators in Reñaca, Chile, wounding Luis Jesús Ahumada Villegas, a 33-year old protestor, in the leg. After this, he recorded a YouTube video, confessing to the crime and claiming that he acted in "self-defense". Due to this, he was convicted of attempted homicide and committing an unjustifiable shooting on public roads. Even though he claimed his actions were based on self-defense, the court rejected his explanation, commenting that "the requirements of legitimate defense are not met". He was sentenced to 11 years of jail time, which was later reduced to 6 years. In 2020, ''

Publimetro Metro International is a Swedish media company based in Luxembourg that publishes the freesheet newspaper ''Metro''. The company was founded by Per Andersson, and started as a subsidiary of the Modern Times Group along with Viasat Broadcasti ...

'' reported that he had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

Electoral history

References

External links

John Cobin's older website

John Cobin's newer website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cobin, John 1963 births Chilean people of American descent Chilean activists Chilean libertarians American emigrants to Chile George Mason University alumni Living people 2019–2020 Chilean protests South Carolina politicians convicted of crimes South Carolina Libertarians Neo-Confederates Chilean criminals