Vicente Atencio Cortéz

Vicente Atencio Cortés (16 September 1929 – 11 August 1976) was a Chilean worker, politician, and trade union leader.

On September 11, 1973, the day of the military coup, he was in the city of Santiago, where he began his political activity against the military dictatorship. After his disappearance on August 11, 1976, his remains were found 17 years later, on March 21, 1990, in a clandestine grave at the Las Tórtolas estate in Colina, a former Chilean Army site. He was buried on June 19 of the same year in the General Cemetery.

After his death, the población where he had lived in Arica —originated as an informal settlement called El Hoyo and later Pueblo Hundido, and which he helped build with his own hands— was renamed after him.

Biography He completed his early education at the Escuela Superior “Pedro de Valdivia” in Valparaíso. After finishing school, he worked as a construction laborer.

He belonged to the Construction Workers’ Union of Arica and participated in the Departmental Council of the CUT (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores) in the city, eventually becoming provincial president of Arica.

Political career In 1957, he joined the Communist Party, where from 1958 he held positions as regional leader in Arica and member of the party’s Central Committee.

In 1963, he was elected Regidor (councilor) for Arica, serving until 1966, and was re-elected in 1967 for one year. That same year, he assumed the office of Mayor of Arica, serving until 1968.

Parliamentary Work In 1969, he was elected Deputy for the departmental grouping of Arica, Iquique, and Pisagua (1969–1973). During this legislative term, he served on the Committees on Interior Government, Housing, and Mining. He was also part of the Investigative Commission on parliamentary interventions in the granting of loans by the Banco del Estado between 1969 and 1970.

In 1973, he was re-elected for the 1973–1977 term. In the brief period before the September 11 military coup, he participated in the Committee on Interior Government. However, his parliamentary career was cut short by the events of September 11, 1973, and the subsequent dissolution of the National Congress (Decree-Law 27 of September 21, 1973).