Alberto Zaldívar

Alberto Javier Rafael Zaldívar Larraín (19 August 1929 – 14 March 2022) was a Chilean lawyer, consultant, and politician.

He served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile representing Santiago's 7th Departmental District for three consecutive legislative periods from 1969 to 1973.

He was a member of the Christian Democratic Party of Chile (PDC) for five decades. Previously, he had been part of the Conservative Party.

He was born in Santiago as the eldest son of Alberto Zaldívar Errázurriz, an employee of the State Railways, and Josefina Larraín Tejeda, who maintained a close relationship with the Catholic Church. His siblings include Javier, Felipe, Josefina, Andrés (former Senate President and minister), Renato, Adolfo (also Senate President and ambassador to Argentina), and Rodrigo.

He completed his primary and secondary education at the Alonso de Ercilla Institute of the Marist Brothers. After finishing school, he entered the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where he graduated as a lawyer. While a student, he served as a teaching assistant in constitutional law between 1954 and 1966.

During those years, he became vice president of the Law School's Student Center, representing the Christian Democrats. Later, he became a member of the National Board of his party.

After graduating, he practiced law in various institutions: lawyer at the Superintendency of Joint Stock Companies in 1957; delegate to a Lawyers’ Congress held in Miami, United States, in 1958; chief lawyer of Industrias Forestales S.A. in 1961; and Secretary-General of the Production Development Corporation (Corfo) in 1966.

In 1967, he participated in the Expert Commission of the Latin American Association of Development Institutions held in Lima. The following year, he was head of the Chilean pavilion at the Lima International Fair and Chilean delegate to the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C. for the approval of statutes of the Latin American Association of Development Institutions.

In the 1969 parliamentary elections, he was elected deputy for Santiago's 7th Departmental District, Third Subdistrict, for the 1969–1973 term, thus becoming the first in his family to hold elected office. During that legislative period, he served on the Constitution, Legislation and Justice Committee, and on the Special Investigative Committees of: universities (1969–1970); stock transactions and their acquisition by state entities (1970–1971); reports of flogging in the Investigations Service (1970–1971); the Special Committee for the constitutional accusation against the Minister of Economy, Development and Reconstruction (1971–1972); and the Committee that formalized and pursued the constitutional accusation against the Minister of the Interior that same year.

He was reelected for the 1973–1977 term, which was interrupted by the coup d’état led by Augusto Pinochet. He participated in the Constitution, Legislation and Justice Committee, as well as in the Economy, Development and Reconstruction Committee.

Among the motions he submitted was Law No. 17,415 of 3 March 1971, concerning the Housing Corporation, the Corporation of Housing Services, and social security institutions.

In January 2008, he resigned from the party along with four of his brothers following the expulsion of Adolfo Zaldívar from the Falangist ranks.

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