Jorge Bustos León

Jorge Bustos León (27 June 1890 – 24 November 1955) was a Chilean civil engineer and politician who served as Mayor of Valdivia and as a Deputy for Valdivia, La Unión and Osorno between 1941 and 1949.

Biography He was born in Constitución, the son of Pedro Tomás Bustos Gutiérrez and Clarisa León Bravo. His maternal aunt, Lucrecia León Bravo, was the mother of the pianist Claudio Arrau. He studied at the Liceo de Talca, the Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera, and the Faculty of Engineering of the Universidad de Chile, graduating as a civil engineer in 1915. He married Hortensia Agüero.

He worked for the Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado (EFE) between 1915 and 1927 as Chief Engineer of Traction and Workshops. Later, he served as an appraisal expert for the Caja de Crédito Hipotecario and managed his estate “Guai-Guai” in the Riñihue area.

Originally a member of the Liberal Party, he became Mayor of Valdivia in 1934.

In 1937 he ran as the candidate of the Alianza Popular Libertadora in a by-election to fill the vacancy left by the death of Deputy Manuel Antonio Luna. He obtained 6,097 votes and was defeated by Samuel Valck Vega of the Democratic Party.

He was elected Deputy for Valdivia, La Unión and Osorno for the 1941–1945 term, serving on the Permanent Committees on Public Education and Industries. He was re-elected for the 1945–1949 term, now as a member of the Liberal Progressive Party, and served on the Permanent Committee on Internal Government, Labour and Social Legislation.

He belonged to the Rotary Club and the German Club of Valdivia. Bustos León died in Santiago in 1955.