Benjamín Claro
Benjamín Claro | |
|---|---|
| Minister of Education | |
| In office 21 October 1942 – 6 October 1944 | |
| President | Juan Antonio Ríos |
| In office 3 February 1946 – 14 August 1946 | |
| President | Alfredo Duhalde |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 15 May 1937 – 15 May 1941 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Benjamín Claro Velasco 17 March 1903 |
| Party | Radical Party (PR) |
| Occupation | Politician |
Benjamín Claro Velasco (31 March 1903 – ?) was a Chilean politician who served as deputy.[1]
Claro served as president of Compañía Recuperadora Metalúrgica S.A., vice president of Industria Nacional de Neumáticos S.A. (INSA), and director of Compañía Industrial and Compañía de Seguros La Chilena Consolidada.[1]
He also was a member of the Instituto de Extensión Musical and supported the law that created the Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile. In 1941 he was appointed Director General of Information and Cultural Extension, as well as president of the National Tourism Council and of the Club Deportivo de la Universidad de Chile.[1]
Claro presided over the First Pan-American Conference of Ministers of Education, held in Panama in 1943. In 1945 he accompanied President Juan Antonio Ríos on his continental and United States tour as a friend and adviser.[1]
He died in Santiago on 15 October 1968.[1]
Biography
He was born in Santiago, Chile, on 31 March 1902, the son of Samuel Claro Lastarria and Celia Velasco Lavín.[1]
He married Elisa Bindhoff Enet in Buenos Aires on 13 February 1928, and they had one daughter. In a second marriage, in Santiago on 26 September 1942, he married Mary Munizaga Suárez, with whom he had one son.[1]
He studied at the German School of Santiago and at the University of Chile Faculty of Law. He was admitted to the bar on 18 August 1926; his thesis was titled La electricidad ante el Derecho (“Electricity before the Law”).[1]
Professional career
He served as a professor of Civic Instruction at the German School of Santiago and taught Civil Law at the Sagrados Corazones de Valparaíso. He also held the chair of Civil Law at the University of Chile for more than twenty years, until 1952. Between 1934 and 1940 he taught the same subject at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso. He co-authored a treatise titled Curso de Instrucción Cívica together with Fernando Varas.[1]
He practiced law privately and was a member of the law firm Claro y Compañía, founded in 1913 by Luis Claro Solar, Samuel Claro Lastarria and Héctor Claro Salas; it was later joined by Fernando and Gustavo Claro Salas, Benjamín and Samuel Claro Velasco, and José Claro Vial.[1]
Political career
He served as president of the Unión Republicana. When the party merged in 1937 with Acción Nacional to form Acción Republicana, he was appointed president of the new party. During the last 25 years of his life, he was a member of the Radical Party (PR).[1]
On three occasions he served as Minister of Education under President Juan Antonio Ríos: from 21 October 1942 to 7 June 1943; from 1 September to 6 October 1943; and from 3 February to 6 September 1946. He was later appointed Minister of Economy and Commerce by President Gabriel González Videla, serving from 2 August 1950 to 19 June 1951. In that role, he financed the purchase of the training ship Esmeralda, acquired in Spain and paid for with Chilean nitrate.[1]
He also served as acting Minister of National Defense (13–18 January 1943) and interim Minister of Justice (21 September–6 October 1944).[1]
He was appointed Intendant of Santiago from 5 June to 4 August 1950.[1]
He entered the Chamber of Deputies of Chile in 1937, representing Acción Republicana. He was elected deputy for the Seventh Departmental Group of Santiago, First District, for the 1937–1941 term. He served on the Permanent Commission of National Defense and was substitute deputy on the Permanent Commissions of Foreign Affairs, Constitution, Legislation and Justice, and Finance.[1]
He was a delegate of Chile to the 8th Pan-American Conference held in Lima, Peru, in 1938.[1]