Luis Leblanc Valenzuela

Luis Enrique Leblanc Valenzuela (12 April 1950 – 19 August 2017) was a Chilean politician who served as deputy.

Early life and family Leblanc was born in Santiago on 12 April 1950. He was the son of Luis Leblanc Monasterio and Inés Valenzuela Sepúlveda. He married Lucia Moreno Valenzuela, and they had three children: Sebastián, Martín, and Valentín.

After completing his schooling, he entered the Catholic University of the North, where he qualified as a social worker.

He later obtained a Master’s degree in Education from the National University of La Plata, Argentina.

Professionally, he worked at DUOC in Arica, at Entel Chile, at the Housing Services Cooperative, and at the Instituto Cultural Andrés Bello.

In January 2008, he became director of the European Union Reference Centre at the University of Tarapacá in Arica. He also served as lecturer and director of the School of Social Work at the same university, a program he created between 2000 and 2001. He led the school until 2015 and later resumed its direction until 2023.

Political career He began his political activities during his university years, serving as president of the Student Federation of the University of the North and later as an active member of his university’s academic senate.

A member of the Christian Democratic Party, he served as head of the Christian Democratic University organization, provincial secretary, first vice president, and president of the Christian Democratic Youth.

He participated in regional political organizations such as the Group of 24, the National Democratic Project, the Democratic Alliance, the Committee for Free Elections, the Command for the "No" campaign, and the Concertación.

In 1989, he ran as a candidate for Deputy, advocating policies aimed at promoting youth development and enhancing women’s integration into social, economic, political, and cultural life.

In 1993, he founded and became the first Secretary General of the Latin American Centre for Relations with Europe (CELARE). He also served as Chilean representative to the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe. That same year, in December, he ran for re-election as Deputy for District No. 1 (Arica, Putre, Camarones, and General Lagos), obtaining 15,939 votes (19.09% of the validly cast ballots), but was not elected.

In 2009, after 40 years of membership, he resigned from the Christian Democratic Party.

Death He died in Arica on 19 August 2017.