Jorge Prat
Jorge Prat | |||||||||
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far right of Chilean politics for several decades, although he also served a brief spell as a cabinet minister in the 1950s.
Early yearsPrat was born in Santiago, Chile. He graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in 1941 with a law degree and initially practised as a lawyer.[1] He subsequently entered banking and was appointed president of the Caja Nacional de Ahorros in 1952.[1] Under his leadership it changed its name to the Banco del Estado de Chile in 1953.[1]
EstanquerosA veteran of the nationalist political scene, he was first associated with the National Socialist Movement of Chile or Nacistas, albeit as a low level member.[1] In 1941 he also acted as president of the Conservative Youth of Chile although he split from its parent group, the Conservative Party, in 1947.[1] During the late 1940s he led his own group, the Estanqueros, based around far right Agrarian Labor Party, although Prat himself, unlike many others who were part of his group, never formally became a member of this group.[1] Later the Estanqueros would be subsumed into the Chilean Anti-Communist Action a more militant group associated with rightist former dictator Carlos Ibáñez del Campo.[2]
Later political careerPrat would himself become associated with Ibáñez and served as Minister of Finance in his second government from 1954 to 1955. As Minister Prat endorsed an austerity programme with higher taxes and the suspension of the right to strike, leading to severe opposition from the National Congress of Chile.[5] His governmental career ended soon after this. Prat then attempted to run for National Party in 1966.[8]
Prat did not become involved in the National Party, and instead concentrated his efforts on largely failed attempts to build a united far-right, anti-democracy party.[8] The most notable of these efforts was the Unión Cívica Democrática, a group he established with Arturo Olavarria and which became noted for its violent opposition to communism.[8] He died in Curacaví in 1971. His funeral was attended by several far right leaders, with Sergio Onofre Jarpa and National Party leader Mario Arnello amongst the mourners.[8] References
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