Armando Holzapfel

Armando Holzapfel Álvarez (1 October 1902 – 29 December 1969) was a Chilean lawyer and politician, member of the Radical Party of Chile. He served several terms as a Deputy of the Republic between 1939 and 1965, representing the southern departments of Imperial, Temuco, and Villarrica.

Holzapfel was born in Carahue, son of Oliverio Holzapfel and Eusebia Álvarez Sáez. He attended the Lyceums of Temuco and Concepción, and later studied at the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile, earning his degree and being sworn in as a lawyer on 4 January 1934. His thesis was titled *Transfer and Evasion of Taxes*.

He began his professional life working in the administrative department of the Ministry of Education between 1924 and 1931, before practicing law privately, first in Santiago and later in Nueva Imperial.

A committed member of the Radical Party, Holzapfel served as the party's provincial president in Malleco. He was also elected municipal councilor (regidor) for Nueva Imperial, where he became a recognized local leader.

He acted as campaign manager for Cristóbal Sáenz Cerda’s senatorial bid in 1937. The following year, he ran in a special election to fill the seat vacated by Rudecindo Ortega Mason, who had been appointed Minister of Education. Holzapfel won the election with 12,228 votes, defeating the agrarian candidate Fortunato Navarro Herrera, and joined the Chamber of Deputies on 10 March 1939 for the remainder of the legislative term.

Holzapfel was subsequently re-elected as Deputy for the Departmental Grouping of Imperial, Temuco, and Villarrica for the 1941–1945 and 1945–1949 terms. He sat on the Permanent Commissions on Internal Government, Constitution, Legislation and Justice, and Public Education.

After a hiatus, he returned to Parliament, being elected again for the 1957–1961 and 1961–1965 legislative periods, representing the same southern constituency. He continued to serve on the Commissions on Public Education and Internal Government.

During his long legislative career, he sponsored several notable motions, including:

• Establishing job security standards for private employees (1948);
• Creating measures to separate the Civil Registry and Identification Services (1957);
• Reforming legal provisions on social security for lawyers (1959);
• Establishing the National Fund for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of Earthquake-Devastated Zones (1960);
• Allocating funds for the Chilean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (1962–1963);
• Promoting tourism development in southern Chile (1963).

In 1960, he led a Chilean parliamentary delegation on an official visit to the German Democratic Republic.

Armando Holzapfel Álvarez died in Santiago on 29 December 1969, at the age of 67.

• Chile a Color: Biografías, Sergio Aguirre Mac-Kay, Editorial Antártica, Santiago, 1986, vol. 4.
• Biografías de Chilenos: Miembros de los Poderes Ejecutivo, Legislativo y Judicial (1876–1973), Armando de Ramón Folch, Ediciones Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, 1999, vol. 2.

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