Arturo Valdés Phillips

Arturo Valdés Phillips (13 June 1917 – 26 November 1993) was a Chilean teacher and politician, member first of the Falange Nacional and later of the Partido Demócrata Cristiano.

He served as Deputy for the 4th Departmental District –La Serena, Coquimbo, Elqui, Ovalle, Combarbalá and Illapel– during the legislative period 1965–1969.

He was born in Santiago on June 13, 1917, the son of Alberto Valdés Alfonso and Isabel Phillips Sánchez. He married María Isabel Ossa León, with whom he had six children: Arturo, Leticia, Ignacio, Carolina, Eugenia and Fernando.

Valdés completed his secondary education at the Liceo Alemán de Santiago. He later studied at the University of Chile, La Serena campus, where he graduated as a teacher of History, Geography and Civic Education.

For eight years he worked as a teacher in various institutions, including Saint George’s School, Liceo de Aplicación, Instituto Luis Campino, Liceo N°11, Liceo Alemán de Santiago, and the Seminary of La Serena. He later became a faculty member at the University of Chile, La Serena campus. From 1971 onwards, he served as general manager of Editorial del Pacífico S.A..

During his student years he held positions in the Centro de Estudiantes de Pedagogía and was a member of the Asociación Nacional de Estudiantes Católicos (ANEC). Between 1933 and 1940 he also joined the Federación de Estudiantes de Chile (FECh).

On November 30, 1938, he joined the Falange Nacional, where he served as regional secretary of Atacama and Coquimbo (1943–1945) and national secretary twice (1947–1949 and 1955–1957). After the creation of the Christian Democratic Party in 1957, he became its general treasurer (1958–1959), communal president of La Serena (1963), and a member of the party’s National Board.

He also served as secretary to Deputy Alejandro Noemi Huerta. In 1946 he was appointed head of the Chilean Consulate in Petrópolis, Brazil, a position he held until 1956.

In the 1965 parliamentary elections, Valdés Phillips was elected Deputy for the 4th Departmental District.

He was a member of various parliamentary commissions, where he focused on educational, civic, and regional development issues affecting the Coquimbo Region. He also took part in debates that reflected the principles of the Christian Democratic Party and his earlier background in the Falange Nacional.

He died in Santiago on November 26, 1993.

• Biografías de Chilenos: Miembros de los Poderes Ejecutivo, Legislativo y Judicial, 1876–1973, Armando de Ramón et al., Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, 2003.

• BCN Profile