Selim Carrasco
Selim Carrasco | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 15 May 1930 – 6 June 1932 | |
| Constituency | 2nd Departamental Grouping |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 November 1891 |
| Died | 11 January 1955 (aged 63) |
| Party | Radical Socialist Party Radical Party |
| Spouse | Josefina Domínguez |
| Alma mater | University of Chile |
Selim Carrasco Toledo (28 November 1891 – 11 January 1955) was a Chilean physician and politician. A member of the Radical Socialist Party and later the Radical Party, he served as a deputy for the Second Departamental Grouping (Tocopilla, El Loa, Antofagasta and Taltal) during the 1930–1934 legislative period.[1]
Biography
Carrasco was born in Talca on 28 November 1891, the son of Jerónimo Carrasco Riquelme and Zunilda Toledo Azócar. He married Josefina Domínguez Torrejón in Antofagasta in 1926, and the couple had two children.[1]
He studied at the Liceo de Hombres of Talca and later at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Chile, graduating as a physician-surgeon on 16 December 1918 and specializing in dermatology.[1]
He worked as an assistant in otorhinolaryngology at the San Borja Hospital between 1915 and 1916. He later served as assistant in dermatology and syphilis under Professor Montero in 1918 and under Professor Luis Prunés in 1919.[1]
He practiced medicine in Río Bueno, San Pablo–Osorno, Cauquenes and Antofagasta, as well as in the nitrate mining camps of Pampa Unión and Sierra Gorda, and at the Hospital El Salvador between 1924 and 1930. Together with physician Humberto de Ramón Correa, he founded the first medical union that later gave rise to the Medical College of Antofagasta.[1]
In 1932 he served as director of the Department of Low-Cost Housing and as physician for the Workers' Insurance system. He also filmed an educational motion picture titled Vergüenza, directed by René Berthelón, intended to educate the public and prevent the spread of syphilis.[1]
In 1952 he submitted to President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo a bill proposing the creation of the Banco del Estado de Chile, which was enacted the following year. He also contributed articles to the newspaper La Opinión.[1]
Concerned about the spread of venereal diseases, he wrote several books on prevention, particularly aimed at miners. He also delivered lectures on the social function of housing, the iodine monopoly, the nitrate industry and COSACH, housing policy and the defence of public health.[1]
He was a Freemason and a member of the Grand Lodge of Chile. He also belonged to the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis and to several professional organizations, including the Medical Society, the Chilean Medical Association, the Chilean League of Social Hygiene and the American Social Hygiene Association. He was also a member of the Automobile Club of Chile.[1]
Political career
Carrasco was one of the founders of the Radical Socialist Party in 1931. In 1933 he was imprisoned and exiled by the government of Arturo Alessandri to Ancud and later to Constitución.[1]
He was elected deputy for the Second Departamental Grouping (Tocopilla, El Loa, Antofagasta and Taltal) for the 1930–1934 legislative period, where he served on the Permanent Commission on Labour and Social Welfare. However, the revolutionary movement that broke out on 4 June 1932 dissolved the Congress two days later.[1]
During his parliamentary tenure he introduced several legislative initiatives, including proposals concerning the iodine and gold monopolies, regulation of the foreign exchange control commission, abolition of the Mortgage Bank, assistance for nitrate producers, the declaration of public utility for foreign currency deposits, and the creation of a Ministry of National Economy.[1]