Gustavo Vargas Molinare

Gustavo Vargas Molinare (17 November 1903 – 9 September 1985) was a Chilean businessman and politician who served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies between 1937 and 1945.

Biography Vargas Molinare was born in Chillán, Chile, the son of Jorge Vargas Salcedo and Natalia Molinare Gallardo. He completed his secondary education at the German Lyceum of Santiago, finishing his studies in 1920.

He pursued a career in commerce and industry, becoming owner of Importadora Comercial Fisk S.A. Ltda., which represented products such as Fisk tires, Studebaker and Jaguar automobiles, Philips radios, and Ferguson tractors in Chile.

He also directed several companies, including Compañía Chilena de Importaciones, Chilean Agencies S.A., Compañía Maderera de Cautín, Maestranza Heiremanns, and TEMAC. He owned forestry estates such as Los Coigües and El Pastal in the Villarrica area and served as advisor to the Caja de Crédito Agrario and the Caja de Colonización Agrícola during the late 1930s and early 1940s.

In 1929, he married Marta Infante Yávar, with whom he had three children.

Political career Vargas Molinare remained politically independent from traditional party blocs during much of his career. He was a member of the Republican Militias and later joined the National Socialist Movement.

He was elected Deputy for the 21st Departmental Group—Temuco, Villarrica, Pitrufquén and Imperial—for the 1937–1941 legislative period, serving on the Standing Committee on Public Works and Roads.

In the 1941 parliamentary elections, he was re-elected as Deputy under the banner of the Popular Socialist Vanguard, serving until 1945. During this term, he was a member of the Standing Committees on National Defense and on Government, Interior and Regulations.

After leaving Congress, he joined the Agrarian Labor Party in 1949 and later the Christian Democratic Party in 1957. He represented Chile as a delegate to the Congress of Democracies held in Montevideo, Uruguay.

He authored the book In Defense of Chile, reflecting his political thought during the period of the Second World War.