Miguel Schweitzer Walters (22 July 1940 – 8 May 2021) was a Chilean lawyer and diplomat.

Biography

The son of and Cora Walters, Miguel attended the 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.

and earned a law degree in 1964. He then earned a doctorate in criminal law in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. He earned the Premio Montenegro and was awarded most outstanding student in criminal law by the Instituto de Ciencias Penales de Chile. He then started working at the law firm Schweitzer & Cía, where he defended the media company . Walters worked as a visiting professor at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, 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 the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

from 1969 to 1970. He then became a professor at the University of Chile and

Finis Terrae University Universidad Finis Terrae () (UFT) is a Chilean university. It is a private autonomous institution in Santiago de Chile owned by the Anahuac University Network The Anahuac University Network is a private universities system grouped and administ ...

, where he became Dean of the Faculty of Law in 2003. He represented Chile on the drafting of the Código Penal Tipo para Latinoamérica. Walters rose to power during the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

. He served as Ambassador of Chile to the United Nations and the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

from 1974 to 1980, and then the United Kingdom from 1980 to 1983. He was instrumental in Chile's backing of the United Kingdom during the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

. He then served as

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

from 14 February to 19 December 1983. Following the

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

of senator

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 ...

in 1991 Schweitzer became the lawyer off Guzmán's famility. He held that position until being replaced by

Luis Hermosilla Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

in 1996. Miguel Schweitzer Walters died 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 country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

on 8 May 2021 at the age of 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schweitzer Walters, Miguel 1940 births 2021 deaths Chilean politicians 20th-century Chilean lawyers Foreign ministers of Chile Ambassadors of Chile to the United Kingdom University of Chile alumni Academic staff of the University of Chile Stanford University faculty University of California faculty University of Pennsylvania faculty People from Santiago, Chile