Eliana Caraball

Eleana María Angélica Caraball Martínez (born 27 April 1937) is a Chilean politician and architect who served as deputy.

Biography She was born in Santiago on 27 April 1937. She is the daughter of Antonio Caraball and Carmen Martínez. She married architect José Antonio Gómez Lemus, and they have one son, José Antonio, a lawyer.

Professional career She studied at the María Auxiliadora school until her second year of secondary education, later completing her secondary studies at Liceo N°7 of Providencia, graduating in 1953. She subsequently obtained the degree of “Bachiller en Humanidades” with a mention in Mathematics, a requirement at the time for university admission.

She was admitted to the School of Architecture of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where she studied between 1954 and 1959 and qualified as an architect in 1965. Among her advanced studies was a semester course in Urban Development taught in Chile by Harvard University professor Reginald Isaacs, under an academic agreement between the Catholic University and Harvard University.

Between 1960 and 1963 she worked as a researcher at the Housing Institute of the School of Architecture of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, and between 1980 and 1983 she served as its deputy director. She also taught the Social Housing Seminar at the same university from 1980 onward.

Political career She joined the Christian Democratic Party in 1958 and participated in the drafting of the government program of Eduardo Frei Montalva in the early 1960s. During the 1980s she held party leadership positions in Las Condes and later at the provincial and regional levels in Santiago.

In 1989 she was elected to the Chamber of Deputies of Chile for District No. 23 (Las Condes, Vitacura, and Lo Barnechea). On 22 June 1993 she became First Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies, the first woman elected by her peers to hold that office, serving until March 1994. Although she was not re-elected in 1993, she returned to Congress in 1997 as deputy for District No. 27 (La Cisterna, El Bosque, and San Ramón), serving from 1998 to 2006.

Between September 2006 and September 2010 she served as president of Empresa Portuaria Talcahuano-San Vicente, part of the State-Owned Enterprises System (SEP), overseeing the company during the aftermath of the 27 February 2010 earthquake and the reconstruction process of the affected ports.