Gabriel Salazar

Gabriel Salazar Vergara (born 31 January 1936) is a far-left Chilean historian. He is known in his country for his study of social history and interpretations of social movements, particularly the recent student protests of 2006 and 2011–12.

Salazar was born into a lower class family, he studied history, sociology and philosophy at Universidad de Chile, and for time he was assistant of historian Mario Góngora and classical historian Héctor Herrera Cajas. During that year, he was tortured in Villa Grimaldi by the military.

Biography Salazar was born into a lower class religious Catholic family. His family lived in the Santiago shanty-town (población) Manuel Montt. In October 2011, Salazar led a campaign aiming to hold a citizen's plebiscite on the demands behind the 2011-2012 Chilean student protests.

Salazar has been critical of various historical figures like José Miguel Carrera and Diego Portales. In addition Salazar has sparkled controversy with his criticism of contemporary student leader Camila Vallejo.