Marco Enríquez-Ominami

Marco Antonio Enríquez-Ominami Gumucio (born 12 June 1973) is a Chilean-French filmmaker, politician, and perennial candidate. From 2006 to 2010 he was a Socialist Party deputy in Chile's lower chamber. In 2009 he quit the party and ran for President of the Republic as independent, where he finished third with 20% of the vote. He is currently the leader of the Progressive Party, which he founded in 2010.

Enríquez-Ominami is the son of Revolutionary Left Movement's historical leader Miguel Enríquez and sociologist Manuela Gumucio. His adoptive father is former senator Carlos Ominami. Enríquez-Ominami is married to the Chilean TV hostess Karen Doggenweiler, and has two children. Because of his long name he is frequently called MEO or ME-O both in writing and in speech.

Early life

Enríquez-Ominami was born in Santiago, Chile to Miguel Enríquez Espinosa, the founder and secretary general of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), and Manuela Gumucio Rivas, daughter of Rafael Agustín Gumucio Vives, a former senator and founder of the Falange Nacional political party. He is of Spanish, German, and Scottish descent by his father's side, also Bolivian and Basque from his mother's side.

In November 1973, two months after the military coup d'état which ousted the government of President Salvador Allende Enríquez-Ominami and his family were expelled from the country via a military decree, and barred from entering the country for the next ten years. His father, who stayed in the country to organize and lead an underground résistance against the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, was assassinated in October 1974 by DINA agents who uncovered his secret location in Santiago. His parliamentary list also failed to win any seats, obtaining a low 4% of the vote. After the election, he refused to endorse either candidate, saying "Eduardo Frei and Sebastián Piñera are too much alike [...] They don't represent hope, nor change, nor the future." On December 16, his economic advisor, Paul Fontaine, joined Piñera's runoff campaign. Nearly a week later another one of his economic advisors, Luis Eduardo Escobar, joined Frei's team. Finally, four days before the election Enríquez-Ominami held a press conference where he said he was going to vote for the "candidate of the 29%," meaning to vote for Frei, but maintaining his supporters were free to choose their own candidate.

In the 2013 General Election, Enríquez-Ominami competed for the Presidency of Chile for the second time, while representing the Progressive Party. This time he secured third place obtaining only 10,98% of the votes. Enríquez-Ominami also run for the Presidency of Chile in the General Election of 2017. He gathered 5,71% of the vote and placed sixth among 8 candidates.

Works Animales políticos. Dialogos filiales. Enríquez-Ominami, Marco; Ominami Pascual, Carlos. 2004.