Raúl Brañes Farmer

Raúl Brañes Farmer (24 March 1903 – 31 March 1991) was a Chilean surgeon and Radical Party politician who served as Deputy for the 8th Departamental Group (Melipilla, San Antonio, San Bernardo and Maipo) for four consecutive legislative periods between 1937 and 1953.

He also served twice as President of the Chamber of Deputies (1941; 1949–1950).

Biography Brañes Farmer was born in Santiago on 24 March 1903, the son of Jorge Brañes Debierres and Virginia Farmer Vivas.

He studied at the Colegio Alemán of Santiago and later at the Liceo Miguel Luis Amunátegui. He entered the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Chile, earning his degree as surgeon in 1926 with the thesis “La cura racional del varicocele”.

He served as assistant in the Chair of Descriptive Anatomy under Professors Benavente and Girón. Professionally, he worked as physician at the Hospital of San Vicente, at the Public Assistance service (1926–1930), and from 1929 at the Hospital of San Bernardo.

Brañes married Marta Ballesteros Wicks, with whom he had four children: Marta, Raúl, Jorge and Lucía. Years after her death, he married Iris Moreno Silva.

Political career A member of the Radical Party, Brañes organized the party’s National Assembly in San Bernardo and served as vice president of the Radical Party. He was also municipal councillor (Regidor) of San Bernardo between 1932 and 1936.

He was elected Deputy for the 8th Departamental Group (Melipilla, San Antonio, San Bernardo and Maipo) for the 1937–1941 legislative period, serving on the Standing Committee on Public Education.

Reelected for the 1941–1945 term, he served on the Committee on Economy and Trade. During this period he was also elected President of the Chamber of Deputies (1941). On 1 January 1947, the town of San Antonio named a local neighborhood “Doctor Raúl Brañes Farmer”.

He won a third term for 1945–1949 (Committee on Foreign Affairs), and a fourth for 1949–1953 (Committee on Finance). He again served as President of the Chamber of Deputies between 1949 and 1950.

Beyond politics, he was an active volunteer firefighter with the Second Company of San Bernardo.