Chile

Famous Chilean People: Chilean Artists, Scientists, Leaders, Musicians, Politicians and Athletes

Chile is a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities with outstanding individuals who made a difference with their remarkable achievements. The following people made their mark on both the local and international scenes. They are just some of many famous Chileans who have lifted Chile’s name worldwide and made a difference in our world.

:: List of Famous People from Chile ::

Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean Communist poet and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda. Neruda wrote in a variety of styles such as erotically charged love poems as in his collection Twenty Poems of Love and a Song of Despair, surrealist poems, historical epics, and overtly political manifestos. In 1971 Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez once called him “the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language.” Neruda always wrote in green ink as it was the color of hope.

During his lifetime, Neruda occupied many diplomatic posts and served a stint as a senator for the Chilean Communist Party. Neruda was hospitalized with cancer at the time of the Chilean coup d’état led by Augusto Pinochet. Three days after being hospitalized, Neruda died of heart failure. Already a legend in life, Neruda’s death reverberated around the world. Pinochet had denied permission to transform Neruda’s funeral into a public event. However, thousands of grieving Chileans disobeyed the curfew and crowded the streets.

Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral was the pseudonym of Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga, a Chilean poet, educator, diplomat, and feminist who was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1945. Some central themes in her poems are nature, betrayal, love, a mother’s love, sorrow and recovery, travel, and Latin American identity as formed from a mixture of Native American and European influences. Gabriela Mistral was of Basque and Amerindian descent.

Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende was a Chilean physician and is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in the Americas. Allende’s involvement in Chilean political life spanned a period of nearly forty years. As a member of the Socialist Party, he was a senator,deputy and cabinet minister. In 1970, he won the presidency in a close three-way race.

He adopted the policy of nationalization of industries and collectivization. Amidst strikes by the far-right Patria y Libertad and CIA opposition under the Nixon administration, protests were held in Chile against Allende’s rule. The Supreme Court criticized Allende for subordination of the judicial system to serve his own political needs, whereas the Chamber of Deputies formally implored the military to intercede and restore rule of law on August 22, 1973. Less than a month later, on September 11, Allende was deposed by the military, thus ending the Popular Unity government. As the armed forces surrounded La Moneda Palace, Allende gave his last speech vowing not to resign, but he is believed to have committed suicide later in the day. Shortly following Allende’s ouster, General Augusto Pinochet refrained from returning authority to the civilian government, and Chile became a junta.

Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d’état on 11 September 1973. Among his titles, he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean army from 1973 to 1998, President of the Government Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1974 and President of the Republic from 1974 until transferring power to a democratically elected president in 1990.

By early 1972, Pinochet was answering to General Chief of Staff of the Army. In August 1973, he was ascended to Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army by President Salvador Allende. On 11 September 1973, Pinochet led a coup d’état which overthrew Allende’s democratically elected socialist government. In December 1974, the military junta appointed Pinochet as President by a joint decree.

From the beginning, the government implemented harsh measures against its political opponents. The new government also implemented economic reforms, including the privatization of several state-controlled industries and the rollback of many state welfare institutions. These policies produced what has been referred to as the “miracle of Chile”, but the government policies dramatically increased economic inequality. Pinochet’s regime was given a legal framework through a highly controversial plebiscite in 1980, which approved a new Constitution drafted by a government-appointed commission. A plebiscite in 1988 (which saw 56% vote against continuing his presidency) led to democratic elections for the Presidency and Parliament.

After peacefully stepping down in 1990, Pinochet continued to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army until 10 March 1998, when he retired and became a senator-for-life in accordance with the 1980 Constitution. In 2004, Chilean Judge Juan Guzmán Tapia ruled that Pinochet was medically fit to stand trial and placed him under house arrest. By the time of his death on 10 December 2006, about 300 criminal charges were still pending against him in Chile for numerous human rights violations, tax evasion and embezzlement during his 17-year rule and afterwards. Pinochet was accused of having corruptly amassed a wealth of more than US$28 million.

Sebastián Piñera
Sebastián Piñera is the current President of Chile. He is a well-known economist, investor, businessperson, philanthropist, politician, former Senator, and leader of the presidential and parliamentary electoral coalition Coalition for Change. Piñera ranks among Chile’s richest persons.

Michelle Bachelet
Michelle Bachelet is a moderate socialist politician who became the first woman president in the country’s history. She won the 2006 presidential election in a runoff, beating center-right businessman and former senator Sebastián Piñera with 53.5% of the vote. She campaigned on a platform of continuing Chile’s free-market policies, while increasing social benefits to help reduce the gap between rich and poor.

Orlando Letelier
Marcos Orlando Letelier del Solar was a Chilean economist, political figure, and diplomat during the presidency of Socialist President Salvador Allende. As a refugee from the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, Letelier accepted several academic positions in Washington, D.C., where he was assassinated by Pinochet’s DINA agents in 1976.

Bernardo O’Higgins
Bernardo O’Higgins Riquelme was a Chilean independence leader who, together with José de San Martín, freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. Although he was the second Supreme Director of Chile (1817–1823), he is considered one of Chile’s founding fathers, as he was the first holder of this title to head a fully independent Chilean state. O’Higgins was of Irish and Basque descent.

Lucho Gatica
Luis Enrique Gatica Silva, better known as Lucho Gatica, is a Chilean bolero singer. It is estimated that Gatica has released more than 90 recordings. He has toured a vast portion of the world, having made concerts in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He is the father of the record producer Humberto Gatica.

José Miguel Insulza
José Miguel Insulza Salinas is a Chilean politician and statesman. Since May 26, 2005, he is the incumbent Secretary General of the Organization of American States. Insulza is nicknamed El Panzer, for his tank-like drive and reputation due to his ability to take political heat with little apparent damage.

Marcelo Ríos
Former Chilean tennis player Marcelo Ríos became the first Latin American player to reach the top position on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles rankings in 1998. He held the World No. 1 ranking for six weeks.

Fernando González
Tennis player Fernando González is the only Chilean to win gold, silver and bronze medals at the summer Olympics.