Pablo Prieto Lorca

Pablo Samuel Prieto Lorca (born 4 May 1959) is a Chilean former footballer and politician who served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies of his country.

Early life and education Prieto was born on May 4, 1959, in Santiago, Chile. He is the son of Eduardo Ramón Prieto Vargas and Ana María Lorca Pozo.

He is married to María Verónica Meyer Rojas and has two children, Pablo Sebastián and Valentina.

He completed his secondary education at the Piaget School in Talca. During his youth, he lived in the United States and in the city of Concepción.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Prieto worked as a professional footballer. In 1977, he played for Cobreloa. Between 1980 and 1989, intermittently, he played for Rangers de Talca. In 1984, he joined Universidad de Chile, and between 1986 and 1987, he played for Everton de Viña del Mar. In 1983, he was also a member of the Chile national football team.

Following his sports career, he worked as a football coach and entrepreneur, founding the consulting firm Prieto y Meyer. In 2007, he served as General Manager of the company Paprilo SpA in the city of Talca.

Political career Prieto was a member of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) and later continued his political career as an independent politician.

In December 2001, he was elected Deputy as an independent candidate within the Alliance for Chile coalition for the 37th District of the Maule Region, corresponding to the commune of Talca, serving for the 2002–2006 term. He obtained 21,446 votes, equivalent to 26.85% of the total ballots cast.

In the 2005 parliamentary elections, he ran for re-election with the support of the Independent Democratic Union, obtaining 17,673 votes (21.09%), but was not elected.

In November 2013, he was elected Regional Councillor for Talca as a member of the Independent Democratic Union, obtaining 19,222 votes, equivalent to 13.30% of the total ballots cast. He served in that position from 2014 to 2016.

In the 2017 parliamentary elections, he was elected Deputy on the Chile Vamos list as an independent candidate within the National Renewal sub-coalition, representing the 17th District of the Maule Region for the 2018–2022 legislative period. He obtained 14,338 votes, corresponding to 5.87% of the validly cast ballots.

In the 2021 parliamentary elections, he sought re-election for the same district but was not elected, obtaining 5,717 votes, equivalent to 2.37% of the valid votes.