Eduardo Frei Montalva
Encyclopedia : E : ED : EDU : Eduardo Frei Montalva
Eduardo Nicanor Frei Montalva (1911–1982) was the president of Chile from 1964 to 1970. Eduardo Frei was born in Santiago on January 16, 1911, the son of Eduardo Frei and Victoria Montalva Martínez. He studied his high school at the Instituto de Humanidades Luis Campino and attended law school at the Universidad Católica de Chile, graduating as a lawyer in 1933. He married María Ruiz-Tagle, and had 5 children.
He began his political career on the Conservative Party, but along with a group of young men, rescinded themselves and founded their own party in 1939: the Falange Nacional. In 1957, the Falange became the Christian Democratic Party of Chile, and he became the undisputed leader.
He was minister of Public Works in 1945, and senator in 1949. He ran for president in 1957 before being elected in 1964. That year he was elected with his “Revolución en Libertad” ("Revolution in Liberty") slogan by a large margin (56%), defeating Socialist candidate Salvador Allende who only received 39% of the vote, but was later elected president in 1970.
During the 1964 election, the CIA, fearing an Allende victory, moved to intervene in Chile's domestic affairs with the designation of US$3 million to be used in support of Frei's candidacy, mostly through means of planting anti-leftist political propaganda in the Chilean media. [link]
During Frei's administration many reforms were made in Chilean society. "Promoción Popular," (Social Promotion) "Reforma Agraria," (Agraria Reform) "Reforma Educacional," (Education Reform) and "Juntas de Vecinos" (Neighborhood Asociations) were some of his main projects.
After Allende's 1970 victory, Frei claimed to fear what he called a "totalitarian project" and became the leader of the opposition. His Christian Democratic Party initially supported the Chilean military coup against Allende in 1973 due to economic collapse and the bitterly divided political climate in Chile at the time. He went as far as endorsing an international campaign of support to the junta.
After Augusto Pinochet's coup, Frei, who considered many of Pinochet's authoritarian policies as anti-democratic, became part of the opposition.
Frei died in Santiago, on January 22, 1982, from complications stemming from a simple surgery. As of 2006, his death is being investigated because of allegations that he was poisoned. [link] In January 2005, Michael Townley, a former DINA agent, acknowledged to agents of Interpol Chile links between DINA and the Army's Laboratory on Bacteriological War, where the claim has been made that the toxin leading to the President's death was produced.
Frei's eldest son, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, was also president of Chile from 1994 to 2000.
|- style="text-align: center;"
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
Part of the Politics series on
Christian Democracy
Parties
Christian Democratic parties
Christian Democrat International
European People's Party
European Democratic Party
Euro Christian Political Movement
Christian Dem Org of America
Ideas
Social conservatism
Social market economy
Catholic social teaching
Human dignity · Personalism
Communitarianism · Popularism
Catholic worker movement
Important Documents
Rerum Novarum (1891)
Stone Lectures (Princeton 1898)
Graves de Communi Re (1901)
Quadragesimo Anno (1931)
Laborem Exercens (1981)
Sollicitudi Rei Socialis (1987)
Centesimus Annus (1991)
·
Presidents of Chile
Blanco Encalada | Freire | Pinto Díaz | Prieto | Bulnes | Montt Torres | Pérez | Errázuriz Zañartu | Pinto Garmendia | Santa María | Balmaceda | Montt Álvarez | Errázuriz Echaurren | Riesco | Montt Montt | Barros Luco | Sanfuentes | Alessandri Palma | Figueroa | Ibáñez del Campo | Montero | Aguirre Cerda | Ríos | González Videla | Alessandri Rodríguez | Frei Montalva | Allende | Pinochet | Aylwin | Frei Ruiz-Tagle | Lagos | Bachelet
External link
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.