Mario Escobar Urbina

Mario Escobar Urbina (born 9 March 1952) is a Chilean politician who served as deputy.

Biography He was born on 9 March 1952 in Santiago, Chile. He is the son of Mario Escobar Vera and Adriana Urbina Varas. He married Verónica Leonor Tombolini Véliz and is the father of four children.

Professional career He completed his secondary education at Colegio Claretiano in Santiago and pursued higher studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where he obtained the title of State Professor in Physical Education. He later earned a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Antofagasta.

Professionally, he worked as an adviser in labor conflicts and in leadership training programs, including for trade unions at Universidad del Norte in 1985 and 1986. Between 1986 and 1990 he contributed opinion articles to the newspaper La Estrella del Norte of Antofagasta.

From 1987 to 1988 he served as chief of staff and public relations officer of the Municipal Corporation for Social Development of Antofagasta, and between 1988 and 1990 he was adviser to its president. In 1990 he also acted as adviser to the Municipal Corporation for Social Development of Calama and as executive director of the Cultural and Tourism Corporation of that city.

In 1996 he reorganized the Calama Tourism Chamber and became its first vice-president. Between 1997 and 2002 he wrote articles for El Mercurio de Valparaíso and, from 1997 to 2001, taught at the professional institute INACAP.

Political career A member of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI), he served as a regional party councillor between 1997 and 2001, and was expelled from the party in 2003.

In December 2001 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies of Chile for District No. 3 (Tocopilla, María Elena, Calama, Ollagüe, and San Pedro de Atacama) in the Antofagasta Region, serving for the 2002–2006 term.

Before assuming office, the Municipality of Calama filed a lawsuit against him alleging misappropriation of public funds related to his tenure as head of the Cultural and Tourism Corporation. In 2003 he was stripped of parliamentary immunity by the Court of Appeals of Antofagasta in order to face investigation over alleged irregularities committed between 1990 and 1997. He did not seek further public office thereafter.