Óscar Vargas Guzmán

Óscar Vargas Guzmán was a Chilean government official who briefly served as Minister Secretary General of Government during the final year of the military regime of General Augusto Pinochet.

His appointment is officially recorded in the legal archives of the Chilean state and the Chilean Army.

Biography He emerged in the public record solely in connection with his service during the final transition phase of the military administration.

On it, Vargas Guzmán expressed strong identification between the Army and the Chilean nation, emphasizing the “family of blood” and the “family of the Military Institution” as one unified vocation. He affirmed that the Escuela Militar served as the institutional “alma mater” forging officers “faithful to God and to the Flag,” bound by ties of loyalty and prepared to face “all dangers with bold courage, even death if necessary.”

On 5 April 1989, he was appointed Minister Secretary General of Government, replacing the outgoing officeholder amid institutional adjustments preceding the restoration of democratic rule. His term ended on 17 August 1989, after which the ministry underwent further reorganizations leading up to the 1990 political transition.