Interviews with Ricardo Lagos

Well, in fact, even though I was motivated by public affairs, if you want to say in a broader way, to be specifically involved in politics that is simply because of Pinochet.

[Augusto Pinochet (1915 – 2006) was dictator of Chile between 1973 and 1990.]

At the time of the coup I was a professor at the University [of Chile] and at the same time I was the Secretary General of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences. It was just the beginning of social science in Chile and UNESCO, the United Nations educational branch, decided to have an institute devoted to social science and I was appointed as Secretary General of that [Institute]

[The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a United Nations agency that promotes international collaboration through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights.]

It is true also that President Allende asked me to be his Ambassador to Moscow, to the Soviet Union. During those days it was necessary to have the approval by the Congress, by the Upper Chamber, the Senate.

[Salvador Allende (1908-1973) was president of Chile between 1952-1973.]

And at the time of the coup there was no ambassador in Moscow, in Washington, in Paris, in [Havana]. Simply because there was a non-competition agreement between Allende and the Congress.

So at the time of the coup, I was to be ambassador and, nevertheless, I never went to Moscow till many, many years later when I arrived in Moscow, but as the President of Chile and the Soviet Union didn’t exist anymore.

Ricardo Lagos served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. While in office Lagos was known for pursuing free-trade agreements, improving health care and education, and addressing the crimes of General Augusto Pinochet’s military regime.

Lagos was born in 1938 in Santiago, Chile. He earned a law degree from the University of Chile in 1960 and then attended Duke University, where he received a doctorate in economics in 1966. He returned to Chile and served as director of the University of Chile’s School of Political and Administrative Sciences and was subsequently appointed secretary general of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences.

Lagos was nominated by President Salvador Allende to be Chilean ambassador to the Soviet Union. But in 1973, Allende was overthrown in a military coup d’état led by Pinochet, and Lagos was never confirmed in that position.

Like many in the democratic opposition to the dictatorship, Lagos left Chile. While in exile in the United States and Argentina, he served at the United Nations as a consultant and economist at UNESCO and the International Labor Organization.

In 1978, he returned to Chile, where he became president of the Democratic Alliance, a coalition of parties opposed to Pinochet. In 1987, Lagos founded the Party for Democracy (Partido por la Democracia). During the historic 1988 national referendum to end the Pinochet dictatorship, Lagos was a key leader in the grassroots efforts to register voters and encourage them to vote against prolonging the military regime.

After democracy was restored, Lagos served as minister of education in the government of President Patricio Aylwin and as minister of public works under President Eduardo Frei before being elected president in his own right in January 2000.

Since leaving the presidency, Lagos founded the Fundación Democracia y Desarrollo (Foundation for Democracy and Development) in 2006 and currently serves as its president. He is also vice-chair of the Inter-American Dialogue and was UN special envoy for climate change from 2007 to 2010.

Twitter: @RicardoLagos