Osvaldo Olguín

Osvaldo Opelio Olguín Zapata (30 January 1931 – 26 April 2018) was a Chilean surgeon, obstetrician-gynecologist, and politician, member of the Christian Democratic Party. He served as councilor and mayor of Calama, and later as senator for Tarapacá and Antofagasta between 1969 and 1973.^[1][2]

He was the son of Mariano Ernesto Olguín Valdés and Isaura Zapata Zapara. He married Elena Palma Torrealba.

He studied at the Instituto Chacabuco and the Liceo of Los Andes. He then entered the University of Chile, graduating as a surgeon in 1959 with the thesis Incidencia del glaucoma en la población escolar de Santiago. He later specialized in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Chile (1974–1977).

He practiced his profession in San Antonio in 1958, and later became deputy director of the Hospital of Calama. He also collaborated as a physician for various miners' unions. He worked as obstetrician-gynecologist at the Hospital del Salvador, Santiago (1957–1983), and was physician for the Red Cross (1974–1979). He was a member of the Lions Club from 1980.^[2]

Olguín began his political activity as a member of the Falange Nacional in 1947, becoming one of the founding members of the Christian Democratic Party in 1957. He was elected councilor of Calama (1959–1962), and later served as mayor of the commune between 1962 and 1968.

In 1969 he was elected senator for the provinces of Tarapacá and Antofagasta, serving until the coup d'état of 11 September 1973. In the Senate he was part of the permanent commissions of Public Health and Public Works. Between 1970 and 1971 he was also national vice president of the Christian Democratic Party.^[3]

His parliamentary term was cut short when the military junta dissolved the National Congress through Decree Law No. 27 of 21 September 1973.^[3]

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