Joaquín Lavín

Joaquín José Lavín Infante (born 23 October 1953) is a Chilean politician of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party and former mayor of Las Condes, in the northeastern zone of Santiago. Formerly Lavín has also been mayor of Santiago, Minister of Education and Minister of Social Development. He ran for president twice in 1999 and 2005, losing both times. In 2021 he tried to run again, but this time he was defeated in a primary election by Sebastián Sichel. Besides his political involvement Lavín has been active in education in the University for Development, of which he was one of the founders and original owners, and as editor of the economics section in El Mercurio.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Lavín and the second or maternal family name is Infante.
Joaquín Lavín
Mayor of Las Condes
In office
6 December 2016 – 28 June 2021
Preceded byFrancisco De la Maza Chadwick
Succeeded byDaniela Peñaloza Ramos
In office
26 September 1992 – 11 June 1999
Preceded byEduardo Jara Miranda
Succeeded byCarlos Larraín Peña
Mayor of Santiago
In office
6 December 2000 – 6 December 2004
Preceded byJaime Ravinet de la Fuente
Succeeded byRaúl Alcaíno
Minister of Social Development of Chile
In office
13 October 2011 – 13 June 2013
PresidentSebastián Piñera
Preceded byFelipe Kast
Succeeded byBruno Baranda
Minister of Education of Chile
In office
11 March 2010 – 18 July 2011
PresidentSebastián Piñera
Preceded byMónica Jiménez de la Jara
Succeeded byFelipe Bulnes Serrano
Personal details
Born (1953-10-23) 23 October 1953
Santiago, Chile
Political partyIndependent Democratic Union
SpouseMaría Estela León
Children7
Alma materUniversidad Católica de Chile
University of Chicago
OccupationEconomist
WebsiteMinistry of Education of Chile

His wife, son and daughter-in-law have also been elected politicians.

Early life and career

Lavin was born on 23 October 1953 in Santiago to Joaquín Lavín Pradenas and Carmen Infante Vial. Lavin's father is believed to have owned over 500 hectares of land.[1][2] Lavin studied economics at the University of Chicago, where he studied under Milton Friedman, one of many "Chicago Boys" to influence Chilean politics.

Lavin is married to María Estela León Ruíz, and the couple have 7 children, including federal deputy Joaquín Lavín León.[3]

Career

Lavín was present in the Acto de Chacarillas in 1977,[4] a ritualized pro-Pinochet act reminiscent of Francoist Spain.[5]

In the period of 1979–1981 at the age of 26 he was appointed as a Dean of Economic Department at Concepción University. From 1981 until 1986 Lavin was a desk-editor of Economics and Business in the newspaper El Mercurio. In 1990 he founded with other partners the private Universidad del Desarrollo.[6]

His professional life was always connected with politics and the first step toward this was done when he became a mayor of Las Condes in 1992.[6]

He wrote a book, Una revolución silenciosa ("A Quiet Revolution"), in support of General Augusto Pinochet's economic policies. Afterwards, in 1992, Lavín was elected mayor of Las Condes, a stronghold of the right, with 31% of the vote and reelected in 1997 with 78% of the vote.

Lavín was the presidential candidate for the UDI-National Renewal coalition Alliance for Chile in the 1999 election. He eventually lost to PS/PPD candidate Ricardo Lagos in a runoff by 200,000 votes.[7] Lavín again represented UDI in the 2005 presidential election, but ended in third place with 23.23% of the vote, due to the presence of another right-wing candidate in the race, Sebastián Piñera, who made it to the runoff election with 25.41% of the vote.

Lavín was narrowly defeated in his bid for a Senate seat in the general election held in December 2009, but on 10 February 2010, President-elect Sebastián Piñera named him Secretary of Education.[8][9]

In July 2011, President Piñera replaced Lavín as Minister of Education by Felipe Bulnes as a response to the months of student protest and appointed him as Minister of Social Development (2011-2013).[10]

In 2016 he was elected mayor of Las Condes again[11] getting 78% of the vote.

He is now Dean of the Business School of the Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD).

Lavín is a devout Roman Catholic and also a supernumerary member of the Prealature of Opus Dei.

On 16 July 2017, Lavín garnered controversy after he hung a rainbow flag over the town hall.[12] This prompted criticism from former presidential candidate José Antonio Kast, himself a former UDI member, who said that there was a "gay dictatorship" in Chile that "corners certain politicians who do not have the courage to say things as they believe them". Lavín had also refused to allow the anti-transgender Bus of Freedom, a bus created by the CitizenGo initiative HazteOir, to pass through Las Condes.[12] Lavín had claimed that his refusal to allow the bus to pass through was related to a timing issue. On 20 July, he had expressed openness to same-sex adoption.[13]

During his campaigning to run for the Chilean presidency a noticeable effort was made by his parti UDI to put him at the forefront of all public television channels. He was frequently invited as a guest in morning shows, where he talked about politics and also did some more casual and relaxed appearances. The public nevertheless noticed that he was constantly invited to these TV shows as means of political strategy to make people feel that he is a relatable figure. Due to the constant mocking and comments in social media about the exacerbated appearances he gradually stopped appearing on TV.[14]

References
  1. Cf.Autobiografía Archived 30 July 2005 at the Wayback Machine en joaquinlavin.cl.
  2. La difícil agenda privada de Lavín, La Tercera, 20/11/2005
  3. "Joaquín Lavín - Economista, académico y político chileno". Joaquín Lavín - Economista, académico y político chileno (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 30 July 2005. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  4. "La Juventud en Chacarillas". El Mercurio. 9 July 1977. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  5. González, Yanko (2015). "El "Golpe Generacional" y la Secretaría Nacional de la Juventud: purga, disciplinamiento y resocialización de las identidades juveniles bajo Pinochet (1973–1980)" [The "Generational Putsch" and the National youth Office: Purge, disciplining and resocialization of youth identities under Pinochet (1973–1980)]. Atenea (in Spanish). 512 (512): 10.4067/S0718–04622015000200006. doi:10.4067/S0718-04622015000200006.
  6. "Joaquín Lavín - Economista, académico y político chileno". Joaquín Lavín - Economista, académico y político chileno (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 30 July 2005. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  7. "Votación País Presidencial 2ª v 1999". Electoral Service. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 April 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Joaquín Lavin, Minister of Education
  9. "Pinera names his cabinet ministers".
  10. http://www.latercera.com/noticia/politica/2011/07/674-380393-9-pinera-opta-por-mantener-a-hinzpeter-incorporar-a-longueira-y-cambiar-de.shtml Archived 10 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine Canales, Javier. La Tercera 18 July 2011. Access date 18 July 2011
  11. Emol.com, Equipo. "Resultados de las Elecciones Municipales 2016 – Especial de Emol.com". www.emol.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  12. "José Antonio Kast y Joaquín Lavín se enfrentan por bandera LGBTI y "Bus de la libertad"". Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  13. "Lavín (UDI) habla a favor de la adopción por parte de parejas homosexuales". Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  14. "Lavin y Matinales". El Mostrador. 21 September 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2021.

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