Baltazar Castro

Isaac Florencio Baltazar Castro Palma (29 July 1919 – 10 January 1989) was a Chilean politician and writer. He served as deputy (1949–1957) and senator (1961–1969).

Biography He was the son of Florencio Castro and Isabel Sofía Palma. He studied at the Liceo Óscar Castro Zúñiga and at the Instituto O'Higgins de Rancagua run by the Marist Brothers.

He worked at the El Teniente near Rancagua, where he became head of the statistics section of the mining railway.

Castro Palma was also active in literature: he was part of the group Los Inútiles and other cultural associations such as the Continental Council of Culture, the Alliance of Intellectuals, and the Sociedad de Escritores de Chile.

Political career He joined the Popular Socialist Party and was elected deputy for Rancagua, Caupolicán, San Vicente and Cachapoal (1949–1953). He sat on the permanent commissions of National Defense, Industry, Economy and Trade, Public Works and Roads, and Labor and Social Legislation.

Later he joined the Unión Nacional de Independientes, being reelected for the 1953–1957 term. He was member of the commissions of Internal Police and Regulations, and Foreign Relations, and presided over the Chamber of Deputies of Chile on 26 May 1953 and 25 May 1955.

In the 1960s he joined the Vanguardia Nacional del Pueblo (VNP), where he served on its committee (1961–1969). He was elected senator for O'Higgins and Colchagua for the 1961–1969 term. In 1965 he represented Chile at the 20th United Nations General Assembly in New York.

He sympathized with the Cuban Revolution and promoted commercial exchange with Cuba, though he maintained differences with other Chilean organizations.

Works Sewell (novel), Ediciones Cultura, Santiago, 1946 Un hombre en el camino (novel), Ediciones Cultura, Santiago, 1950 Piedra y nieve (short stories), Ediciones Talamí, 1956 Mi camarada padre (novel), Editorial Zig-Zag, Santiago, 1958 ¿Me permite una interrupción? (chronicles), Zig-Zag, Santiago, 1962 Légamo (novel), Zig-Zag, Santiago, 1965 Doña Revolución (essay), Editorial Nascimento, Santiago, 1969 Distinto bitoque (articles), Editorial del Pacífico, Santiago, 1974 ¿Ha almorzado la gente? (novel), Editorial del Pacífico, Santiago, 1978 Le llamaban Pablito (essay on Pablo Neruda), Cerro Huelén, Santiago, 1982

Awards Premio Municipal de Literatura de Santiago (1951), for Un hombre en el camino