Lucía Hiriart

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Augusto Pinochet
(m. 1943;died 2006)
Lucía Hiriart
Lucia Hiriart.jpg
First Lady of Chile
In role
17 December 1974 11 March 1990
Children5, including Inés Lucía Pinochet

María Lucía Hiriart Rodríguez (10 December 1923 – 16 December 2021), also known as Lucía Hiriart de Pinochet, was the wife of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Contents

Early life and education

Lucia Hiriart and Augusto Pinochet Augusto Pinochet y Lucia Hiriart.png
Lucía Hiriart and Augusto Pinochet

Hiriart was born into a wealthy family in Antofagasta, on 10 December 1923 [1] [2] to Osvaldo Hiriart Corvalán, a lawyer, former Radical Party senator, and former Interior Minister of president Juan Antonio Ríos; and Lucía Rodríguez Auda de Hiriart, of Basque French descent. [3]

Lucia Hiriart and members of her family at the funeral of her husband Augusto Pinochet on 12 December 2006. Famille de Pinochet lors de ses funerailles.jpg
Lucía Hiriart and members of her family at the funeral of her husband Augusto Pinochet on 12 December 2006.

In 2005, Hiriart was sued by Chile's Internal Tax Service (Servicio de Impuestos Internos) over tax evasion totaling US$2.35 million and was arrested with her son Marco Antonio a few months later. In October 2007, she was arrested again in the frame of the Riggs Bank case, along with Pinochet's five children and 17 other people (including two generals, one of his former lawyers and his former secretary) on charges of embezzlement and use of false passports. They were accused of having illegally transferred $27m (£13.2m) to foreign bank accounts during Pinochet's rule. [4] [5]

In August 2016, Hiriart was accused of using funds from her NGO, CEMA Chile. During Pinochet's time under house arrest in London, two separate transfers were made from Chile to herself, in 1998 and 1999. Each transfer was totaled to be $50,000. According to the prosecutors, the money was used to pay for Pinochet's living expenses. [6] Hiriart was sued by two Communist Party lawmakers from Chile, Hugo Gutierrez and Karol Cariola, along with the Relatives of Disappeared Detainees Group (AFDD) for misuse of public assets owned by CEMA Chile for misappropriation of public assets, tax fraud, and embezzlement. CEMA Chile is accused of illegally acquiring more than 30 properties for more than $18 million. During the investigation, Hiriart resigned following a news report from November 2015 stating that she had used sales and rentals of public lands from CEMA Chile for her own benefit. [7]

Personal life and death

On 30 January 1943, Hiriart married Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, then a Chilean Army Infantry School lieutenant. They had five children – three daughters (Inés Lucía, María Verónica, and Jacqueline Marie) and two sons (Augusto Osvaldo and Marco Antonio).

On 30 December 2018, Hiriart was hospitalized after falling at her home in Santiago and fracturing her arm and several ribs. [8]

Hiriart died from heart failure in Santiago on 16 December 2021, at the age of 98. [1] [9] [10]

Hiriart was portrayed by Gloria Münchmeyer in the 2023 black comedy horror film El Conde directed by Pablo Larrain. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucía Pinochet</span> Daughter of Augustino Pinochet

Inés Lucía Pinochet Hiriart is the eldest daughter of former Chile's dictator Augusto Pinochet and Lucía Hiriart de Pinochet. She was a councilor for the municipality of Vitacura, from 2008 until 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indictment and arrest of Augusto Pinochet</span> Arrest of the dictator for crimes against humanity (1990s–2000s)

General Augusto Pinochet was indicted for human rights violations committed in his native Chile by Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzón in 1998. He was arrested in London six days later and held under house arrest for a year and a half before being released by the British government in 2000. Authorised to return to Chile, Pinochet was subsequently indicted by judge Juan Guzmán Tapia and charged with several crimes. He died in 2006 without having been convicted. His arrest in London made the front pages of newspapers worldwide; not only did it involve the head of the military dictatorship that ruled Chile between 1973 and 1990, it marked the first time judges had applied the principle of universal jurisdiction, declaring themselves competent to judge crimes committed in a country by former heads of state, despite the existence of local amnesty laws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chilean transition to democracy</span> Process of Chile moving away from dictatorship

The military regime in Chile led by General Augusto Pinochet ended on 11 March 1990 and was replaced by a democratically elected government. The transition period lasted roughly two years, although some aspects of the process lasted significantly longer. Unlike most democratic transitions, led by either the elite or the people, Chile's democratic transition process is known as an intermediate transition – a transition involving both the regime and the civil society. Throughout the transition, though the regime increased repressive violence, it simultaneously supported liberalization – progressively strengthening democratic institutions and gradually weakening those of the military.

Carmelo Soria was a Spanish-Chilean United Nations diplomat. A member of the CEPAL in the 1970s, he was assassinated by Chile's DINA agents as a part of Operation Condor. Augusto Pinochet was later personally indicted over this case.

Events from the year 2007 in Chile

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augusto Pinochet</span> Dictator of Chile from 1973 to 1990

Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte was a Chilean military officer who was the dictator of Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader of the military junta, which in 1974 declared him President of the Republic and thus the dictator of Chile; in 1980, a referendum approved a new constitution confirming him in the office, after which he served as de jure president from 1981 to 1990. His time in office remains the longest of any Chilean ruler.

Eduardo Frei Montalva, President of Chile, was as an opposition leader against the government of President Salvador Allende and initially supported the Chilean coup of 1973 that deposed Allende and established the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Frei Montalva died in 1982 apparently following routine surgery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlos Echazarreta Larraín</span> Civil servant, farmer

Carlos Echazarreta Larraín was the 21st Mayor of the commune of Pichilemu, Chile between May 1947 and May 1950. He was succeeded by Sergio Morales Retamal. Echazarreta also was a regidor of Pichilemu for several terms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlos Echazarreta Iñiguez</span>

Carlos José Ramón Echazarreta Iñiguez was the 27th and 30th Mayor of the commune of Pichilemu, office which he held between May 1963 and May 1967, and through the early months of the Augusto Pinochet military regime, between September and November 1973. In 1967 he was succeeded by Carlos Rojas Pavez, and in 1973 he was succeeded by Mario Urrutia Carrasco. Echazarreta also was a regidor of Pichilemu for several terms between 1959 and 1973.

Lucia is both a feminine given name and a surname. It comes from the Latin word Lux meaning 'light'. It is the feminine form of the Roman praenomen Lucius and can be alternatively spelled as Lucy. It is used in French (Lucie), Romanian, Italian, Spanish (Lucía), Portuguese (Lúcia), English, and Slavic languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mónica Madariaga</span> Chilean lawyer, academic, and politician

Mónica Madariaga Gutiérrez was a Chilean lawyer, academic, and politician, a state minister of the military dictatorship headed by her cousin, Augusto Pinochet, which ruled the country from 1973 to 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinochetism</span> Political Ideology

Pinochetism is an authoritarian and personalistic political ideology rooted in the military dictatorship led in Chile between 1973 and 1990 by Augusto Pinochet. Ranging from the right-wing to the far-right, Pinochetism is characterised by its anti-communism, conservatism, militarism, and nationalism. Under Pinochet, Chile's economy was placed under the control of a group of Chilean economists known collectively as the Chicago Boys, whose policies have been described by some as neoliberal. Former and current supporters of the dictatorship are known as pinochetistas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonio Vodanovic</span> Chilean television presenter (born 1949)

Antonio Vodanovic is a Chilean television presenter known for being the presenter of Viña del Mar International Song Festival from 1976 to 2004. From the late 1970s to 1982 he was programming director of Televisión Nacional de Chile. In 1982 he renounced that position after an internal conflict in Televisión Nacional de Chile that emerged in the aftermath as consequence of the censorship of Holocaust. On one occasion Vodanovic publicly praised dictator Augusto Pinochet and his wife Lucia Hiriart, who were in the public, on behalf of "the Chilean youth". Vodanovic was present in the Acto de Chacarillas in 1977, a ritualized pro-Pinochet act reminiscent of Francoist Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gloria Hutt</span> Chilean civil engineer and politician.

Gloria de los Ángeles Hutt Hesse is a Chilean politician and journalist and a member of Political Evolution (Evópoli/EVOP), a conservative-liberal and centre-right party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sergio Melnick</span> Chilean politician (1951–2024)

Sergio Raúl Melnick Israel was a Chilean politician, economist, businessman, and writer. He was the minister of planning under dictador Augusto Pinochet from 1987 to 1989, and a councilmember for Las Condes from 2020 to 2024.

Pablo Rodríguez Grez is a Chilean politician and lawyer. He supported and was a former lawyer for Pinochet. He became known for his fascist ideals and for founding the Fatherland and Liberty movement, in which he had been accused of terrorist acts, in addition to collaborating with Pinochet's coup in 1973. He was also a candidate for the National Advance party for the presidency of Chile in 1989. He has been a teacher of Civil Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile since 1978 and is a partner at the law firm Rodríguez Vergara y Compañía.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jorge Dip</span> Chilean lawyer and politician

Jorge Arturo Dip Calderón is a Chilean lawyer and politician, governor of the province of Valparaíso between 2016 and 2018. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Party.

<i>My Tender Matador</i> 2001 novel by Pedro Lemebel

My Tender Matador is a 2001 novel by Chilean writer Pedro Lemebel.

<i>El Conde</i> (film) 2023 film by Pablo Larraín

El Conde is a 2023 Chilean black comedy horror film directed by Pablo Larraín and written by Larraín and Guillermo Calderón. It is a satire that portrays Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a 250-year-old vampire seeking death. The film stars Jaime Vadell, Gloria Münchmeyer, Alfredo Castro, and Paula Luchsinger.

References

  1. 1 2 "Certificado de defunción establece causa de muerte de Lucía Hiriart e indica que falleció a los 98". CNN Chile (in Spanish). 17 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  2. Vega Lopez, Fernando (2013). La familia: Historia privada de la familia Pinochet (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). Santiago de Chile: Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial. p. 9. ISBN   9789568410926 . Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  3. Legarraga, Patricio; Chabagno, Albert. "Los Hiriart de la casa Beaulieu en Macaye". Revista de Estudios Históricos del Instituto Chileno de Investigaciones Genealógicas (43): 25–85.
  4. Pinochet family arrested in Chile, BBC , 4 October 2007 (in English)
  5. Cobertura Especial: Detienen a familia y principales colaboradores de Pinochet Archived 11 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine , La Tercera , 4 October 2007 (in Spanish)
  6. Franklin, Jonathan (19 August 2016). "Pinochet's widow under investigation on suspicion of swindling millions". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  7. "Communist lawmakers file suit against Pinochet widow for fraud". Fox News Latino. 22 August 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  8. "Lucía Hiriart sufrió accidente casero y fue internada en el Hospital Militar" (in Spanish). Cooperativa. 14 January 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  9. Cambero, Fabian (16 December 2021). "Lucia Hiriart, widow of Chilean dictator Pinochet, dies aged 99". Reuters. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  10. "Lucía Hiriart obituary". The Times. 24 December 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  11. "Pablo Larraín y Netflix preparan "El Conde", una sátira sobre un Pinochet vampiro". www.ambito.com. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
Honorary titles
Preceded by First Lady of Chile
1974—1990
Succeeded by