Leonardo Hagel Arredondo

Leonardo Hagel Arredondo (18 September 1932 – 18 September 2004) was a Chilean surgeon and politician of the Socialist Party, later joining the PPD.

He was elected Deputy for the 3rd Departamental Group –Copiapó, Chañaral, Huasco and Freirina– in 1973, but his term was cut short by the military coup.

Biography He was born in San Felipe on 18 September 1932, the son of Osvaldo Hagel and Josefina Arredondo. On 22 December 1954, he married Moralina Álvarez; the couple had five children.

He completed his secondary education at Instituto Nacional Barros Arana (INBA) and earned his medical degree as a surgeon from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He practiced medicine in Copiapó.

Political and public career He began his political activities in the Socialist Party. After the 1973 coup, he was persecuted by the Pinochet regime and detained in Villa Grimaldi, from which he escaped in 1976 and went into exile in Spain.

He returned to Chile in 1989 and contributed to organizing the Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia in support of Patricio Aylwin’s presidential campaign from his native San Felipe.

He was elected councilman (concejal) in Copiapó for two consecutive terms: 1992–1996 representing the Socialist Party, and 1996–2000 representing the PPD.

Legislative term 1973 As Deputy for the 3rd Departamental Group, he was a member of the Permanent Commission on Mining.

His term ended prematurely due to the military coup on 11 September 1973 and the subsequent dissolution of Congress by decree on 21 September.