Carlos Aldunate Errázuriz

Carlos Aldunate Errázuriz (1880 – 1959) was a Chilean lawyer and politician affiliated with the Conservative Party. He served as senator for the former province of Colchagua during the 1933–1937 legislative period, after being elected in a by-election, and previously held cabinet and diplomatic posts during the first administration of President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo.

Biography Aldunate Errázuriz was born in Santiago in 1880, the son of Carlos Aldunate Solar and Pelagia Errázuriz Echaurren, and the brother of the parliamentarian Fernando Aldunate Errázuriz. He studied law at the University of Chile, qualifying as a lawyer on 14 March 1911 with a thesis titled De las internaciones. He later served as professor of Mining Law at the same university.

He married Adriana Lyon Lynch in Santiago on 23 November 1914. The couple had four children, including the priest Carlos Aldunate Lyon.

Political and public career A member of the Conservative Party, Aldunate Errázuriz served as municipal councillor (regidor) of Ñuñoa for two terms.

In the 1924 parliamentary elections, he was elected deputy for Quillota and Limache, serving between 15 May and 11 September 1924. During this brief term, he sat on the Standing Committees on Foreign Relations and Worship and on Legislation and Justice. His mandate ended with the dissolution of Congress following the coup d’état of 11 September 1924.

During the first administration of President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, he simultaneously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Commerce and Minister of Lands and Colonization between 13 and 22 July 1931.

In a by-election, Aldunate Errázuriz was elected senator for the province of Colchagua, assuming office on 9 October 1934 to complete the 1933–1937 legislative period. This four-year senatorial term was part of the institutional adjustment implemented following the political crisis of June 1932. During his time in the Senate, he served on the Standing Committee on Government.

Following his parliamentary career, he was appointed Ambassador of Chile to the Holy See between 1937 and 1939.

Later career After leaving public office, Aldunate Errázuriz served as councillor and president of the Banco de Chile, vice president of the Association of Banks of the Republic, and was a member of the Club de la Unión. He died in Santiago in 1959.