Mercedes Bulnes

María Mercedes Bulnes Núñez (born 6 June 1950) is a Chilean lawyer, human rights activist and politician serving as a member of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies from District 17 since 2022.[1] She is the first woman elected from District 17 to the Chamber of Deputies.[2]

Mercedes Bulnes, March 2022

Background and career

Mercedes Bulnes, a lawyer is married to Roberto Celedón Fernández also a lawyer and a former constituent. The couple was arrested, detained and tortured between October and November 1973 on the allegations of sedition and ties with Revolutionary Left Movement during military dictatorship. Bulnes was 23 years old and pregnant with their third child, and her husband Roberto was 26 years old at the time Captain Víctor Echeverría Henríquez arrested them at Bulnes’ father's house and taken to Biu Regiment.[3] At the Regiment, Bulnes was placed on guard duty until two in the morning while her husband was held and tortured inside the Biu Command Headquarters. After their release, they moved to Netherland on exile where they spent eight years before returning to Chile.[4]

Bulnes and her husband opened a law firm in the 90s to help vulnerable people. Their arrest and torture in 1973 was documented in the Valech Report. In 2014, they filed a case against Captain Víctor Echeverría Henríquez who was found guilty and convicted in 2017 for the torture of the couple. On 9 August 2021, the Supreme Court quashed the 1975 War Council conviction of Celedon and other defendants for seditious crime.[5]

Bulnes ran in the 2021 parliamentary election for the district 17 seat in the Chamber of Deputies as an independent candidate. She won the election with 8,348 or 3.5 per cent of the total votes cast. She was inaugurated to the Chamber of Deputies on 11 March 2022 and joined the Social Convergence bench in the chamber. On 9 August 2023, she presented to the Chamber of Deputies, a bill for the amendment of penal code to make adolescents, boys and girls eligible to report sexual violence.[6][7]

References
  1. "Honorable Cámara de Diputadas y Diputados - Chile". www.camara.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-09-28.
  2. "Distrito 17 eligió a una mujer como Diputada por primera vez". El Diario de Maule (in Spanish). 2021-11-23. Retrieved 2023-09-28.
  3. JGM, Radio (2023-07-03). "Mercedes Bulnes por juicio de Martín Pradenas". Radio JGM (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-09-28.
  4. "Mercedes Bulnes, abogada en caso Antonia Barra: "Pradenas es un depredador sexual, está buscando ocasiones o víctimas"". El Mostrador (in Spanish). 2020-07-26. Retrieved 2023-09-28.
  5. "Presentan proyecto que obliga a eclesiásticos a denunciar abusos sexuales en contra menores de edad". El Mostrador (in Spanish). 2023-08-10. Retrieved 2023-09-28.
  6. "Enviarán a Ética a diputada Naveillán tras negar violencia sexual en la dictadura". Súbela Radio (in Spanish). 2023-08-24. Retrieved 2023-09-28.
  7. Ernst, Juan (2023-08-24). "Diputada Bulnes anuncia requerimiento por dichos de Naveillán: "Van más allá del negacionismo"". El Dínamo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-09-28.
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