Ángel Custodio Vásquez
Ángel C. Vásquez | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Senate | |
| In office 11 February 1947 – 15 May 1953 | |
| Preceded by | Gabriel González Videla |
| Constituency | 1st Provincial Circumscription (Tarapacá and Antofagasta) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 January 1876 |
| Died | 1 October 1967 (aged 91) |
| Party | Radical Party |
| Spouses |
|
Ángel Custodio Vásquez Galdames (4 January 1876 – 1 October 1967) was a Chilean trade unionist, political organizer and senator of the Radical Party.
He served as Senator for the 1st Provincial Circumscription (Tarapacá and Antofagasta) during the XL and XLI legislative periods, assuming office on 11 February 1947 to replace Gabriel González Videla after the latter was elected President of Chile.[1]
Biography
Vásquez Galdames was born in Caldera on 4 January 1876, the son of Ángel Custodio Vásquez Díaz and Petronila Galdames Orellana.[1]
He married María Mercedes Quintero Valverde, with whom he had eight children; only two survived: Marta Graciela and Lucas. After being widowed, he married Isolina Rosenda Flores Piñones, with whom he had three children.[1]
He studied at the Escuela de Minas de Copiapó.[1]
Professional and trade union career
For 26 years, he worked at the Antofagasta–Bolivia Railway, where he served as head of the Department of Social Assistance until 1947. He also organized and led employee and mutual-aid associations in Antofagasta, including the Society of Railway Employees, the Hogar Social Hijos de Atacama, and the Association of Private Employees of Antofagasta.[1]
He also worked in the construction sector in Antofagasta until 1939.[1]
In Chuquicamata, he promoted worker education by organizing a popular library with a focus on industrial and technical subjects. In Pueblo Hundido, he founded a private primary school and later a municipal school, which he helped consolidate as part of the state school system.[1]
Political career
Vásquez joined the Radical Party in 1896 and held multiple leadership positions within the party in Antofagasta and Calama. He chaired the Popular Front in 1938 and later served as president of the Democratic Alliance.[1]
He was elected Senator for the 1st Provincial Circumscription (Tarapacá and Antofagasta) for the 1945–1953 term, and took office on 11 February 1947 as replacement for Gabriel González Videla.[1]
In the Senate, he served as a replacement member of the Standing Committees on Government and on Labour and Social Welfare. In the final four years of his tenure, he served on the Standing Committee on Government and as replacement member of the Committees on Public Works and Transport, and on Mining and Industrial Development.[1]
He sponsored motions that later became law, including Law No. 9,993 (construction and completion of the School of Mines in Antofagasta) and Law No. 10,320 (authorization for the importation of materials for the Municipality of Arica).[1]
Other activities
He served as secretary of the Pro-Defense Committee of Antofagasta for ten years. He was also a founder and member of the Radical Club of Antofagasta and served as director of the Chilean Hotel Consortium S.A.[1] Parliamentary tributes and records related to his public service are preserved in BCN's Labor Parlamentaria archive.[2]
Death
Ángel Custodio Vásquez Galdames died of bronchopneumonia in Santiago on 1 October 1967, aged 91. He was buried in the family mausoleum at the Cementerio General de Santiago.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Angel Custodio Vásquez Galdames – BCN Parliamentary Biography". Library of the National Congress of Chile. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
- ^ "Labor Parlamentaria: Homenaje a Ángel Custodio Vásquez Galdames". Library of the National Congress of Chile. Retrieved 21 December 2025.