Pablo Baraona

Pablo Antonio Baraona Urzúa (22 June 1935 – 28 September 2017) was a Chilean economist and politician, regarded as one of the main promoters of the free market model implemented during the military regime of General Augusto Pinochet.

He served as Minister of Economy (1976–1978) and Minister of Mining (1988–1989).

Early life Baraona was the son of Alicia Urzúa Souper and lawyer-politician Jorge Baraona. He studied economics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC), where he chaired both the student council of his faculty and the student federation between 1957 and 1959.

In 1961 he earned a master's degree in economics from the University of Chicago, joining the generation of economists known in Chile as the «Chicago Boys». Upon returning to Chile, he taught at PUC and became director of its Institute of Economics in 1964. He also directed the Centre for Socioeconomic Studies (CESEC), which served as the platform for the economic programme of Jorge Alessandri’s 1970 presidential campaign.

Public life A member of the National Party (PN), in March 1971 Baraona co-founded the newspaper Tribuna, which opposed Salvador Allende’s government. During the 1973 Chilean parliamentary election, he directed the campaign of fellow party member Sergio Onofre Jarpa, candidate for the Senate for Santiago.

At the beginning of Pinochet’s dictatorship, Baraona served as adviser to the then Minister of Economy, Fernando Léniz. In 1974 he was appointed Vice President of the Central Bank of Chile, and became its President in 1975. He served as Minister of Economy (1976–1978) and later as Minister of Mining (1988–1989). That year, he left government to lead the presidential campaign of Hernán Büchi, who had previously been his chief of staff at the Ministry of Economy.

Works 1973 – Fuerzas Armadas y seguridad nacional. Santiago: Ed. Portada. 1993 – Mil días, mil por ciento: la economía chilena durante el gobierno de Allende. Santiago: Antártica.