Esteban Romero Sandoval

Esteban Romero Sandoval (1906 – 1983) was a Chilean accountant, Mapuche political leader and member of the Chamber of Deputies.

He is widely recognized as one of the historic leaders of the Corporación Araucana, a central institution of 20th-century Mapuche political organization.

Biography Romero Sandoval was born in 1906 in the Truf-Truf sector of what is now the commune of Padre Las Casas. He was the son of José María Romero, a Mapuche cacique who played a major role during the Mapuche uprising of 1881.

As a young man he joined the Sociedad Caupolicán Defensora de la Araucanía, serving as its president from 1928 to 1931. In late 1931, the presidency passed to Venancio Coñuepán Huenchual, and Romero became secretary. Together with Coñuepán and José Cayupi, he formed the nucleus of the so-called “Juventud Araucana”, the group that came to dominate the Society.

This leadership circle —later known as the “Grupo Central”— played a central role in the founding (1938) and further consolidation of the Corporación Araucana, where Romero remained influential for decades.

Parliamentary career In the 1953 Chilean parliamentary election, Romero was elected deputy representing the Christian National Party for the Departamental Circumscription of Temuco, Imperial, Pitrufquén and Villarrica. He failed to secure re-election in 1957.

He ran again in the 1961 election as a candidate of the National Democratic Party, but was not elected.

Later years In 1963 the National Congress granted him a special lifetime pension of 200 escudos through Law No. 15.129, a benefit also extended to José Cayupi.

Romero died in Santiago in 1983.