Rafael Luis Gumucio
Rafael L. Gumucio | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Senate | |
| In office 21 May 1933 – 15 May 1941 | |
| Constituency | 4th Provincial Grouping |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 15 May 1915 – 15 May 1930 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 March 1877 |
| Died | 14 June 1947 (aged 70) |
| Party | Conservative Party |
| Spouse | Amalia Vives Vives |
| Alma mater | Pontifical Catholic University of Chile |
| Occupation | Lawyer, journalist, politician |
Rafael Luis Gumucio Vergara (24 March 1877 – 14 June 1947) was a Chilean lawyer, journalist and politician.
A member of the Conservative Party, he served as a senator of the Republic between 1933 and 1941 and previously as a deputy for five consecutive terms between 1915 and 1930.[1]
He was President of the Chamber of Deputies in 1926 and president of the Conservative Party between 1931 and 1932.[1]
Biography
He was born in Santiago on 24 March 1877, the son of Rafael Bautista Gumucio Larrain, a writer and conservative politician, and Gertrudis Vergara Correa. He married Amalia Vives Vives, with whom he had nine children.[1]
Professional career
He began his studies at the College of the French Fathers and completed them at Colegio San Ignacio. He pursued higher education at the Law School of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC), where he obtained his law degree in 1904. His thesis was titled De la naturalizacion y de sus efectos politicos y civiles.[1] In the UC, he served as professor of International Law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, while also practicing law independently, specializing in civil litigation.[1]
He worked extensively in journalism as editor and later director of the newspaper El Porvenir, owned by the Archdiocese, and of El Diario Popular between 1906 and 1908. He was also an editor for La Union of Valparaiso and El Diario Ilustrado between 1908 and 1915 and again in 1924. He served as editor and director of the magazine Zig-Zag. In 1927, he retired from El Diario Ilustrado after more than twenty years in journalism.[1]
Between 1932 and 1936, he was associated with the Mortgage Bank, later serving as its counselor and legal advisor from 1941 until his death in 1947.[1]
Political career
A militant member of the Conservative Party, he held various party responsibilities, including director of the Conservative Center in 1907, delegate for Valparaiso to the Conservative Youth Convention in 1913, and member of the party executive board in 1921.[1]
He was elected deputy for five consecutive terms between 1915 and 1930 and served as President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1 March to 28 October 1926.[1]
Along with other parliamentarians, he was a strong opponent of President Carlos Ibanez del Campo. In February 1927, he was detained and deported to Ecuador. Between 1927 and 1930, he lived in Lovaina, Belgium, with his son Rafael Agustin. During his exile, his wife died. He later returned to Chile through the mediation of the Catholic Church.[1]
In the early 1930s, he engaged in dialogue with young conservative intellectuals, including Eduardo Frei Montalva and Manuel Antonio Garretón Walker, whose ideas contributed to the development of Social Christian thought and influenced the emergence of the National Falange in 1935 and its later evolution into the Christian Democratic Party of Chile.[1]
Following the death of President Pedro Aguirre Cerda in 1941 and the subsequent presidential election of 1942, he temporarily withdrew from the Conservative Party after it supported the candidacy of Carlos Ibanez del Campo. He returned in 1946 to support the presidential candidacy of Eduardo Cruz-Coke.[1]
Death
He died in Santiago on 14 June 1947.[1]