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Tomás Hirsch | |
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| Born | (1956-07-19)19 July 1956 (age 68) |
Tomás René Hirsch Goldschmidt (born 19 July 1956) is a leftistChilean politician and businessman. He was theTogether We Can Do More pact candidate for the 2005Chilean presidential election,[1] winning 5.4% of the vote.
Hirsch was born inSantiago, Chile, toJewish-German parents. His mother, Lysa Goldschmidt, arrived in Chile beforeWorld War II, while his father, Jorge Hirsch, arrived in the country escaping from GermanNazi concentration camps.
During his youth, Hirsch became interested inSilo, an Argentinian writer and leader of a movement that inspired the founders of theHumanist Party.
In 1974 Hirsch began studyingIndustrial Civil Engineering at theUniversity of Chile, but dropped out in 1978. Later he began working on his brother's photo company.
Hirsch is married to Juanita Vergara and has two children.
In 1983 Hirsch helped found the Humanist Party, the first political party legalized (1987) under the government ofAugusto Pinochet, and was president of the party from 1994 until 1999. He was also one of the founders of theCoalition of Parties for Democracy (CPD) and served as Chile's ambassador toNew Zealand between 1990 and 1992, under the democratic government ofPatricio Aylwin. In January 1993, the Humanist Party withdrew from the CPD.
Hirsch unsuccessfully ran for a seat in thelower house of Congress in 1997 and forPresident in1999, representing the Humanists.
Hirsch was a leading spokesperson for the victims of thePinochet regime - whenPinochet was under house arrest in London. He would often appear on international news cables demanding that Pinochet be sent toSpain and be put on trial forcrimes against humanity. He criticized the government ofRicardo Lagos for pushing for Pinochet's release from detention claiming that Pinochet would never stand trial in Chile where he was protected by theChilean Army and the Chilean political establishment. Hirsch has also been a major critic of the course theCoalition of Parties for Democracy has taken and was cynical of theeuphoria created by the election of the socialist presidentMichelle Bachelet claiming that her government meant a continuation of the same for most Chileans.
Hirsch has a highlyrevolutionary conception of Chilean society and his party calls for systemic changes to the economy to create a moreegalitarian, trulysocialistic and democratic society for all Chileans. He is also a supporter of the cause of the natives of Chile – theMapuches. Some of his views are close to those of theCommunist Party of Chile (with which his party formed an electoral front in the coalitionJuntos Podemos Más (English: Together we can do more) in theChilean presidential elections of 2005. Hirsch has been arrested on a number of occasions by the Chilean police for taking part in demonstrations in support of political causes.
Media related toTomás Hirsch at Wikimedia Commons
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