Patricio Aylwin

Patricio Aylwin Azócar (1990)

Patricio Aylwin Azócar (born November 26, 1918 in Viña del Mar , † April 19, 2016 in Providencia ) was a Chilean politician . The Christian Democrat from 1990 to 1994, the first democratically elected President of Chile after the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet .

Life

Patricio Aylwin was born in 1918 as the eldest of five children of Laura Azócar and Miguel Aylwin. In 1943 he completed his studies (law, political and social sciences) at the Universidad de Chile and then worked there as a professor of law; later he moved to the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (also in Santiago de Chile ). He married Leonor Oyarzún Ivanovic, with whom he had five children. Her daughter Mariana Aylwin was Chilean Minister of Education from 2000 to 2003.

Early on he became politically active with the moderately left-wing Christian Democrats , strongly influenced by the idea of Catholic social teaching . Between 1958 and 1989 he was chairman of the Christian Democratic Party of Chile several times . In 1965 he was elected as a senator to Congress, presiding over it in 1971 and 1972, when Salvador Allende was President of Chile. He led the parliamentary opposition to Allende and initially supported the Pinochet coup. He later revised his opinion on it.

After the coup of General Augusto Pinochet and the seizure of power by the military in September 1973, Patricio Aylwin remained chairman of the Christian Democrats until 1976, which - like all other political parties in Chile - were forbidden from any public activity under the dictatorial rule of Pinochet. In 1980, Aylwin stood up as a spokesman for the opposition to the constitutional amendment with which the military wanted to legitimize their regime. The new constitution, tailored to Pinochet's needs, was adopted; One could not, however, speak of free choice. Nevertheless, Aylwin spoke out in favor of taking the constitutional situation for granted and continuing to seek the peaceful path to democracy even under the unfavorable legal conditions.

After the opposition won the referendum on how the next presidential election would be organized in 1988, Aylwin was elected as a candidate for the anti-Pinochet opposition - a broad center-left alliance led by Christian Democrats and Socialists . Aylwin ran in the first free presidential election since 1971 and was elected President of Chile on December 14, 1989. His term of office (inauguration on March 11, 1990) was marked by great reluctance and the attempt not to endanger Chile's slow and cautious path to a democratic constitutional state.

Aylwin set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission as early as mid-1990 to deal with the crimes committed during the dictatorship from 1973 to 1979. The aim of the commission should be to confront the Chilean public with an “official truth” about junta crimes and thus to prevent the division of society into two camps, each with different interpretations of history. But the elected government's room for maneuver had clear limits. Since the influence of the military in the country was still great, Aylwin was forced to exercise restraint in his reappraisal policy; a criminal prosecution of the crimes could not have been conveyed to the armed forces.

After a term in office, Aylwin was replaced in 1994 by Eduardo Frei (also a Christian Democrat). Patricio Aylwin then became involved internationally at the United Nations in the fight against poverty and for the enforcement of legal principles, including as chairman of a non-profit organization for democracy and justice.

Honors and awards (selection)

• Numerous honorary doctorates
• 1993: Grand Star of the Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria
• 1997: North-South Prize of the Council of Europe
• 1998: Fulbright Prize

Web links

Daniel Stahl: Report of the Chilean Truth Commission. In: Sources for the history of human rights , published by the Working Group on Human Rights in the 20th Century, May 2015, accessed on January 11, 2017.

Commons : Patricio Aylwin  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rosario Álvarez: Muere Patricio Aylwin a los 97 años, el primer Presidente de Chile tras el retorno de la democracia. In: La Tercera , April 19, 2016.
2. ^ Daniel Stahl: Report of the Chilean Truth Commission. In: Sources on the history of human rights. Working Group on Human Rights in the 20th Century, May 2015, accessed on January 11, 2017 . 
3. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.6 MB).