Carlos Briones

Carlos Octavio Briones Olivos was a Chilean lawyer and politician, member of the Socialist Party of Chile, of which he served as secretary general between 1985 and 1986. He twice served as Minister of the Interior in 1973 during the final months of President Salvador Allende’s government.

Biography

Born in Bulnes to Mamerto Briones and Flor Olivos, he was one of twelve siblings. He moved to Santiago to study law at the University of Chile. At a young age he joined the Socialist Party and became close friends with Salvador Allende.
In 1943 he married Hildegard Krassa Pylkoff, professor and classmate of Hortensia Bussi, wife of Salvador Allende. They had two children, Carlos Rodrigo and Ximena Paulina. His son died in New York in 2004, while his widow Hildegard passed away in 2011.

Briones was appointed by President Jorge Alessandri as Superintendent of Social Security, a position ratified by President Eduardo Frei Montalva.
Due to his friendship with Allende, he accepted the post of Minister of the Interior in July 1973. On 7 August 1973 he faced a constitutional accusation for alleged abuses by the Carabineros during a truckers’ strike, but the Chamber of Deputies rejected it by 48 votes to 21.
He was one of the drafters of the speech Allende was to deliver on 11 September 1973 calling for a plebiscite, but the 1973 Chilean coup d'état took place instead. Unlike many of his fellow party members, Briones was placed under house arrest before leaving voluntarily for Colombia, where he worked with the United Nations.
He returned to Chile in 1979, giving an interview to Qué Pasa magazine where he argued that under the 1925 Constitution of Chile he remained the “constitutional president of Chile.” The statement led to his forced exile, first to Argentina, then to Mexico.

In 1985 he returned to Chile and assumed as secretary general of the Socialist Party until June 1986. He was among the founders of the Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia, which brought Patricio Aylwin to the presidency in 1990.
Retiring from public life in 1995 due to illness, he received frequent visits from Ricardo Lagos.
Briones died on 19 January 2000 in Santiago. His funeral was private and held at the Cementerio Parque del Recuerdo.