Abraham Gatica Silva

Abraham Gatica Silva (1865 – 6 May 1940) was a Chilean politician and landowner. He served multiple terms as a senator of the Republic, representing Coquimbo and later the Atacama and Coquimbo provincial grouping, between 1915 and 1940.

Biography He was born in Santiago in 1865, the son of Pedro Gatica Souza and Quiteria Silva Ureta.

Political career He was a member of the Liberal Doctrinary Party, serving as its president in 1925. He signed the act by which the political parties proclaimed Emiliano Figueroa Larrain as the sole candidate for President of the Republic.

He later joined the Radical Party and supported the presidential candidacy of Pedro Aguirre Cerda.

He was elected deputy for Ovalle, Combarbala and Illapel for the 1912–1915 term.

He was elected senator for Coquimbo for the 1915–1921 term, serving as alternate senator on the Standing Committee on Industry and Public Works and as a member of the Standing Committee on Public Works and Colonization. In the latter part of this term, he served on the Standing Committee on War and Navy.

He was re-elected senator for Coquimbo for the 1921–1927 term, serving as alternate senator on the Standing Committee on Budget and as a member of the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Industry and Railways. On 11 September 1924, the National Congress was dissolved by decree of the Junta of Government of Chile (1924).

He was again elected senator for the Second Provincial Grouping of Atacama and Coquimbo for the 1926–1930 term, serving as alternate senator on the Standing Committees on Army and Navy and on Agriculture, Mining, Industrial Development and Colonization, and as a member of the Standing Committees on Public Works and Communications and on Internal Police.

He was once more elected senator for the Second Provincial Grouping of Atacama and Coquimbo for the 1933–1941 term, serving on the Standing Committees on Public Works and Communications and on Agriculture, Mining, Industrial Development and Colonization, the latter of which he chaired during the second stage of the term. He died in office in May 1940 and was replaced on 22 July by Jerónimo Méndez.

Other activities He was also engaged in agricultural activities, managing estates including Las Canas in Illapel, El Perejil in Chimbarongo, Santa Isabel in Graneros, La Esmeralda and La Capilla in Quillota, and La Union in Malvilla.

Death He died in Quillota, at the La Capilla estate, on 6 May 1940, while still serving as senator of the Republic.