Edgardo Enríquez

Edgardo Enríquez Frödden (; February 9, 1912 - November 1, 1996) was a Chilean physician, academic and minister of education under the Salvador Allende government.

Biography Family and careers Enríquez Frödden was born into an upper middle class family that featured prominently in the political history of the city of Concepción, Chile, as the son of Marco Antonio Enríquez Henríquez and Rosalba Frödden Lorenzen. His sister, Inés Enríquez Frödden, (1913–1998) was a lawyer, a leader of the Chilean Radical Party and the first woman elected into the chamber of deputies of the Chilean parliament. His brother, Humberto Enríquez Frödden (1907–1989), was a law professor, Chilean senator and minister of health. Another brother, Hugo Enríquez Frödden, a physician, held the position of director of the Juan Aguirre Hospital in Santiago and was a distinguished member of the World Health Organization.

He entered the medical school of the University of Concepción in 1930 and graduated in 1936. As a student he received the A. de Ambrossy Prize from the University of Concepción and the Carlos Mockenberg Prize from the University of Chile – both awards were earned for academic excellence. He married the lawyer Raquel Espinoza Townsend with whom he had four children: his youngest child Miguel Enríquez (1944–1974) followed him into the field of medicine and became the legendary revolutionary figure who founded the MIR and headed the resistance against the Pinochet dictatorship.

Enríquez Frödden served in the Naval Academy from 1938, first as a general practitioner, later he became the director of the Naval Hospital of Talcahuano; ultimately reaching the rank of Captain of the Naval Medical Services Corp. He was also a professor of anatomy and medicine in a number of schools and institutions and he chaired the first Latin American Studies Conference held in Concepción in 1969. In this climate of open political provocation by his enemies in Congress Allende found it difficult to find someone with the credentials to accept the ministerial portfolio for education because the education reforms he had initiated encountered major obstacles. Allende had promised an overhaul in education in Chile, he massively increased expenditure for public education and had implemented a university reform aimed to facilitate access to higher education for the working class and people from the shanty towns. His reform had started to encounter powerful and staunch opposition from private educational institutions (which was backed by the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy and employers' organisations) – where the Chilean elite normally enrolled their children to prevent them associating with lower or working-class people.

It was within this political context that Enríquez Frödden accepted the post of minister of education offered to him by Allende - but his ministerial term was cut short by the U.S. backed military overthrow of the Salvador Allende government on September 11, 1973.

Arrest and exile After the military overthrow of the Popular Unity government and the subsequent death of President Salvador Allende, the new military junta declared members of his government enemies of the state. The military junta moved quickly to remove Allende’s ministers from the public scene with many imprisoned, exiled and some murdered. Enriquez Frödden was arrested, imprisoned and then relocated to the remote concentration camp set up in Dawson Island. He was forced into exile with his wife in 1976 and settled in Mexico where he remained for about 14 years.

Positions held President of the Regional Council of Concepcion of Chile's School of Medicine between 1949 and 1967. Director of the Naval Hospital of Talcahuano. (1963–1969) Professor of Anatomy at the University of Concepción and the University of Chile (1936–1972) Rector of the University of Concepción. (1969–1972) Minister of Education (July 1973 – September 1973)