Jaime Barros Pérez Cotapos

Jaime Barros Pérez-Cotapos (3 May 1911 – 22 February 2004) was a Chilean physician and politician. He served as senator for the provinces of Aconcagua and Valparaíso between 1961 and 1969.

Biography He was the son of Ambrosio Barros Moreira and Inés Pérez-Cotapos Tagle, and brother of dentist and parapsychologist Andrés Barros Pérez-Cotapos and Sergio Barros Pérez-Cotapos. He studied at the Liceo de Curicó and later graduated as physician from the University of Chile in 1937, specializing in pediatrics. He practiced medicine until the age of 88.

He married Antonia Velasco Moreno in 1938, with whom he had a son, Rodrigo. Later he married Inés Señoret Lecaros, with whom he had four children: Alma Luz, Claudia, José Manuel and Inés.

A sportsman and photographer in his youth, he was president of the Valparaíso Moto Club. Known as "the doctor of the poor", he provided free care to underprivileged families in Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, often traveling by bicycle, scooter or horse. He founded numerous community clinics in Cerro Esperanza, Ramaditas, La Calera, La Ligua, Nogales, Hijuelas and Cabildo.

Political career Barros joined the Communist Party of Chile in 1935, travelling abroad with figures such as Pablo Neruda, and meeting international leaders including Fidel Castro and Mao Zedong. In 1965, he split from the Communist Party to form the Maoist-inspired Espartaco movement, which gave birth to the Communist Revolutionary Party, though he later returned to the Communist Party.

He was elected deputy for Valparaíso in April 1956, backed by FRAP and the Radical Party, but was prevented from taking office under the Ley de Defensa de la Democracia. In 1961 he was elected senator for Aconcagua and Valparaíso, serving until 1969. He was member of the Permanent Commission of Public Health, working alongside Salvador Allende Gossens to lay the foundations of the Servicio Médico Nacional de Empleados (SERMENA).

After the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, Barros was detained at the Silva Palma barracks and later forced to reside in Arica, where he continued political and social activism.

He was named Hijo Ilustre of Arica in 1988 and of Valparaíso in 2000. In the democratic era, he ran unsuccessfully for municipal and senatorial office.

Later life and death He died in Arica on 22 February 2004 of prostate cancer, at the age of 92. His funeral was held at the municipal cemetery of Arica, according to his last wish.