Sergio Onofre Jarpa

Sergio Onofre Jarpa
Minister of the Interior
In office
10 August 1983  12 February 1985
President Augusto Pinochet
Preceded by Enrique Montero Marx
Succeeded by Ricardo García Rodríguez
Member of the Senate
In office
15 May 1973  21 September 1973
Constituency LIII
In office
11 March 1990  11 March 1994
Constituency LV
Personal details
Born March 8, 1921
Rengo, Chile
Nationality Chilean
Political party Agrarian Labor Party
(1950-1954)
Agrarian National Party
(1954-1956)
National Action
(1963-1966)
National Party
(1966-1973)
Independent
(1973-1987)
National Renewal
(1987-1997)
Spouse(s) Silvia Moreno Andwandter (1950s-1978; her death)
Domestic partner Mina Huerta Dunsmore (1980s-present)
Relations Onofre Jarpa (ancestor)
Children Sergio Jr.,
Jorge,
Francisco,
Isabel
Parents Francisco Javier Jarpa Santa Cruz (father)
Raquel Reyes Corona (mother)
Alma mater University of Chile
Occupation Diplomat, farmer
Religion Roman Catholic
Awards Premio al Mérito Geopolítico (1991)

Sergio Onofre Jarpa Reyes (born 8 March 1921 in Rengo, Chile) is a Chilean politician who served as a member of the cabinet during the government of Augusto Pinochet.

Biography

Coming from a rural background, he studied agriculture at the University of Chile.[1] He first became involved in politics in the 1950s, initially with the youth movement of the Agrarian Labor Party before becoming involved in the National Action Party with Jorge Prat.[1] He was instrumental in the formation of the National Party in 1966 and served as leader of the opposition to the left-wing government and, from 1971, editor of the anti-socialist journal Tribuna.[1]

Elected to the Senate of Chile in the 1973 election, Jarpa became a diplomat following the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, serving as a delegate to the United Nations and before becoming ambassador to Colombia (1976-1978) and then Argentina (1978-1983).[1] Jarpa was appointed Minister of the Interior in 1983 with special orders to open dialogue with the opposition, which had organised under the name Democratic Alliance. This policy of appeasement was quickly abandoned by Pinochet however.[2] He held the post until 1985.[1] He formed his own political movement, the Frente Nacional del Trabajo, in 1985 and this group was one of the three that formed National Renewal two years later.[1] He returned to the Senate as a representative of this new party in 1990.[1]

Alongside his political career Jarpa is a noted author on socio-political topics and he was awarded the Premio al Mérito Geopolítico by the Chilean Institute of Geopolitics in 1991.[1]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sergio Onofre Jarpa.
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Library of the Chilean National Congress Biography
  2. Thomas C. Wright & Rody Zunate Oniga, "Chilean Political Exile", Latin American Perspectives, 2007 34: 44