Raúl Sánchez Bañados

Raúl Sánchez Bañados (4 January 1929 – 11 March 2013) was a Chilean metalworker, trade union leader, and politician of the Communist Party of Chile. He served as Deputy for the 5th Departmental Group in 1973, but his mandate was cut short by the 1973 Chilean coup d'état. He also served two terms as Mayor of La Ligua.

He completed his primary studies at the public school in Petorca. From the age of 12 he worked in the Rosario El Bronce mine in Petorca, later in a grocery store in La Calera and in construction in Viña del Mar. He later worked at the Llopis projector factory and then at the Cerro Negro Mining Company, from which he was dismissed for his union activity. In 1959 he moved to the La Patagua mine in La Ligua, again being dismissed in 1960 for participating in strikes.

He joined the Communist Party of Chile in the late 1950s. In 1961 he became president of the Central Única de Trabajadores de Chile (CUT in Aconcagua Province, and collaborated in Salvador Allende’s senatorial campaign.

He was elected councilman (regidor) of La Ligua in 1963, serving until 1971, when he was elected mayor (1971–1973). During his first mayoral term he actively promoted land expropriations under the Agrarian Reform.

In the 1973 elections he was elected Deputy for the 5th Departmental Group (San Felipe, Petorca, La Ligua and Los Andes). He joined the Permanent Committee on Agriculture and Colonization. His term ended abruptly with the military coup on 11 September 1973.

After the coup, he went into exile in Austria and later Bulgaria, where he lived for 15 years working as a carpenter in a printing press. He returned to Chile in 1989, resuming union activity with miners, farmers, and textile workers.

He was elected councilor of La Ligua for three consecutive terms (1992–2004) and returned as mayor from 2004 to 2008.

He died in La Ligua on 11 March 2013.

• BCN Profile