René Cortázar

René Cortázar (Santiago, February 29, 1952) is a Chilean economist, researcher, academic, and politician of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC).

He was Minister of State for Presidents Patricio Aylwin and Michelle Bachelet.

Biography

He is the second of the children of the marriage of the agricultural engineers René Ángel Cortázar Sagarminaga and Carmen Sanz Briso-Montiano. His father worked for many years at La Platina, a property of the University of Chile, where he carried out agricultural research. He was awarded the National Prize for Applied and Technological Sciences in 1994.[1][2][3][4]

He studied at the Colegio del Verbo Divino in the capital[3] and later graduated from PUC with a degree in business engineering. After graduating, he became a researcher-assistant at Cieplan, becoming one of the founders of the study center together with Alejandro Foxley, Ricardo Ffrench-Davis, and José Pablo Arellano.[4]

Since 1975 he has been married to Ana María Valdés,[4] with whom he had three daughters.

Then he went to the United States for two and a half years, where he received a doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. Later he was a professor at the Institute of Economics of the Catholic University (PUC), a professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Chile, and a visiting professor at universities in Brazil and the United States.

Political career

Beginning

In 1972 he became a Christian Democratic Party (PDC) member.

He was an active collaborator in the "No" campaign in the 1988 referendum, which sought to remove dictator Augusto Pinochet. His primary role was to be the coordinator of the labor commission of the opposition Coalition of Parties for Democracy.[4]

Minister of Patricio Aylwin

In the Government of Patricio Aylwin (1990-1994), he served as Minister of Labor and Social Welfare.[5]

As Aylwin's minister, he was responsible for enacting the first Labor Code approved in a democracy.[6] For the first time in Chile, tripartite agreements were also signed between the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores, the Confederation of Production and Commerce and the government.[7] During the same period, the Chile Joven program was implemented to train low-income unemployed youth.[8]

Later, together with Juan Villarzú and Osvaldo Rosales, he coordinated the economic program of Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle when he was a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic in the 1993 elections.

Executive director of TVN

Between 1995 and 2000, he was executive director of Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN), establishing bases that made the state channel profitable.[5]

During his period as executive director of Televisión Nacional de Chile from 1995 to 2000. He published a book of editorial Guidelines.[9] In the elaboration of those Guidelines, there was ample participation of all the professionals of TVN.[10] The Guidelines address issues related to professional responsibility and programming content in press and entertainment. Some chapters refer to privacy, protection of minors, women, violence, politics, elections, terrorism, and news related to TVN, among other topics.[10]

There have been many debates with respect to the application of the Televisión Nacional de Chile Guidelines[10] to specific issues, during the period that Cortázar was executive director of Televisión Nacional de Chile (1995-2000). For example, in the cases of journalistic investigations of the protection of minors and the asbestos issue.[11][12][13]

Bachelet's Minister

On March 27, 2007, he became Minister of Transport and Telecommunications in the first government of Michelle Bachelet, replacing Sergio Espejo. His appointment was during the severe Transantiago Crisis regarding the urban transport system of the Chilean capital implemented in 2006.[14] In December 2007, due to the growing and complex problems of the system, and as promised, he presented his resignation,[15] but President Bachelet did not accept it.[16]

During Michelle Bachelet, he assumed the position of Minister of Education as a surrogate before the suspension —which occurred on April 3, 2008— and subsequent dismissal thirteen days later of Yasna Provoste.[17] On April 17, Mónica Jiménez was appointed as provoste's successor, Cortázar ceasing to hold office.[18]

Subsequent activities

After being away from contingent politics, he began negotiations in 2011, to be proclaimed as the PDC candidate for the Senate for the Antofagasta Region.[19] At the end of 2012, the region PDC board unanimously endorsed him, which cleared the way for the parliamentary elections of 2013.[20][21] Despite this, he did not take part in the elections.[22]

In 2013, he joined the programmatic team of Michelle Bachelet in her second candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic.[23]

Candidate for the Constitutional Convention

René Cortázar was part of the "Approval List" for district 8 in the 2021 conventional constituent elections.[24] Cortázar's candidacy was ultimately unsuccessful despite being the one that received the largest sum of donations in all of Chile.[25]

In 2022, he joined the Cristián Warnken's political movement Amarillos por Chile, which actively participated in the plebiscite on the Proposal for a New Constitution of the Constituent Convention, in defense of the rejection option.[26] On September 23, the Yellow Movement for Chile began procedures to become a political party.[27] In 2022, he presented his resignation from the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) after 50 years of militancy.[28]

Business career

Before becoming Minister of State, Cortázar was a member of the boards of D&S, Entel Chile, CorpBanca, Almacenes Paris, AES Gener, La Polar, Moneda, ILC and ICB[29] He was also vice president of Icare and director of the Alberto Hurtado Center for Labor Studies. He also served as chairman of the board of directors of the Cieplan study center.[30]

On August 10, 2010, four days after Andrónico Luksic Craig announced his entry into the station with 67%[31][32] he became the chairman of the board of directors of Canal 13. He left office in July 2012 to rejoin Cieplan.[33][34][35][36] In April 2015, he resumed responsibility at the station.[37]

References

  1. ↑ El Mercurio (Santiago), 13 de septiembre de 1994, p.C7
  2. ↑ El Mercurio (Santiago), 16 de diciembre de 1994, p.C9
  3. 1 2 El Mercurio (Santiago), 22 de diciembre de 2007, El Sábado, p.16». Archivado desde el original el 4 de marzo de 2016. Consultado el 25 de febrero de 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 La Tercera (Santiago), 8 de abril de 2007, Reportajes, p.6
  5. 1 2 La Tercera (Santiago), 28 de marzo de 2007, p4
  6. ↑ Cortázar, René (1993). POLÍTICA LABORAL EN EL CHILE DEMOCRÁTICO (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile: Ediciones Dolmen. p. 44. ISBN 9789562011945.
  7. ↑ Cortázar, René (1993). POLÍTICA LABORAL EN EL CHILE DEMOCRÁTICO (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile: Ediciones Dolmen. p. 40. ISBN 9789562011945.
  8. ↑ Cortázar, René (1993). POLÍTICA LABORAL EN EL CHILE DEMOCRÁTICO (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile: Ediciones Dolmen. p. 85. ISBN 9789562011945.
  9. ↑ Cortázar, René (1997). TVN; ORIENTACIONES PROGRAMÁTICAS.
  10. 1 2 3 "ORIENTACIONES PROGRAMÁTICAS Y EDITORIALES TELEVISIÓN NACIONAL DE CHILE" (PDF).
  11. ↑ Massai, N.; Sánchez, M.; Castillo, P. (October 29, 2012). "Asbesto: los cómplices de un enemigo mortal". The Clinic (in Spanish). Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Raúl Sohr reveló como René Cortázar lo echó de TVN por querer denunciar el grave daño de la empresa Pizarreño y el asbesto". El Universal (in Spanish). March 31, 2021. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Valentina Miranda: "René Cortázar encubrió el genocidio del asbesto y no merece ser constituyente"". El Desconcierto (in Spanish). March 27, 2021. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  14. ↑ emol, 26 de marzo de 2007, 20.49 horas
  15. ↑ Transantiago - Renuncia de Cortazar: Promesas Incumplidas y Falsas Expectativas
  16. ↑ emol, 14 de diciembre de 2007, 09.37 horas
  17. ↑ Universia, 4 de abril de 2008
  18. ↑ El Mercurio (Santiago), 18 de abril de 2008, p.C3». Archivado desde el original el 4 de marzo de 2016.
  19. ↑ El Mercurio (Santiago), 11 de octubre de 2012, p.C2
  20. ↑ La Tercera (Santiago), 29 de diciembre de 2012, p.3
  21. ↑ La Tercera (Santiago), 30 de diciembre de 2012, p.4
  22. ↑ Pulso (Santiago), 28 de enero de 2013, p.25
  23. ↑ El Mercurio (Santiago), 11 de julio de 2013, p.C4
  24. ↑ "Plebiscito Constitucional". Servicio Electoral de Chile.
  25. ↑ Sepúlveda, Nicolás; Cifuentes, Lucas; Ríos, Cristóbal (May 17, 2021). "Elección constituyente: las campañas millonarias que fueron derrotadas por candidaturas casi sin fondos". Ciper (in Spanish). Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  26. ↑ "Movimiento "Amarillos x Chile" y "Una que nos Una" lanzan plataforma "Centroizquierda x el Rechazo". CNN Chile. July 30, 2022.
  27. ↑ "Amarillos por Chile recolecta las primeras 100 firmas para convertirse en partido y presenta lema y directiva". El Mercurio. September 24, 2022.
  28. ↑ "Los primeros integrantes de la "marea amarilla"". El Mercurio. September 24, 2022.
  29. ↑ Capital (Santiago), 30 de noviembre de 2007, p.58
  30. ↑ "Home". cieplan.org.
  31. ↑ emol, 10 de agosto de 2010, 17.25 horas
  32. ↑ El Mostrador, 11 de agosto de 2010
  33. ↑ emol, 26 de julio de 2012, 13.38 horas
  34. ↑ Radio Cooperativa, 26 de julio de 2012, 13.58 horas
  35. ↑ La Tercera (Santiago), 27 de julio de 2012, p.60
  36. ↑ El Mostrador, 27 de julio de 2012
  37. ↑ "René Cortazar regresa a la presidencia del Directorio de Canal 13". Emol.
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