Jaime Bellolio
Jaime Andrés Bellolio Avaria is a Chilean engineer and politician, militant from Independent Democratic Union, who currently serves as Mayor of Providencia. He has also served as deputy of the Republic from March 2014 to 2020, and as Minister Secretary General of the Government during the second government of Sebastián Piñera.
He began his parliamentary career aged 34 being elected as a deputy for the then 30th district of the Metropolitan Region of Santiago. Previously, he was president of the Students Federation of the Catholic University of Chile.
Member of the Independent Democratic Union party. He served as a Deputy of the Republic for the former 30th district of the Metropolitan Region, from 11 March 2014 to 11 March 2018. He later held the same office representing the new district No. 14, between March 2018 and July 2020.
From 28 July 2020 to 11 March 2022, he served as Ministry Secretary General of Government under the second government of President Sebastián Piñera.
Biography
Family and Education
He was born on 29 November 1980, in Santiago, the son of public accountant and business runner Jaime Bellolio Rodríguez and Margarita María Avaria Benapres.His grandfather, Blas Bellolio Zappettini, was a senator for the Seventh Provincial Assembly of Ñuble, Concepción, and Arauco between 1953 and 1961. His brother, Álvaro, was head of the Department of Immigration and Migration from March 2018 to 2021, being the last to hold that position.
His first cousin, Cristóbal Bellolio, of liberal persuasion, is a lawyer, political scientist, and PhD in political philosophy from the Pontifical Catholic University.
In 1998, he graduated from secondary education at the Cordillera School in Las Condes, where he served as president of the Student Council. He later entered the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, earning a degree in commercial engineering. Thanks to a scholarship, he completed a master’s degree in public policy at the University of Chicago, specializing in education, health, public safety, and transportation.
Marriage and Children
He has been married since 2006 to Teresita Zalaquett Jiménez, with whom he has four children: Jaime, Raimundo, Vicente, and León.Professional Career
In 2005, he joined the Jaime Guzmán Foundation, working on education and public policy issues, serving as deputy director. He later coordinated the program “Youth in the Service of Chile,” a position he held until 2007. In 2008, he worked as a consultant for the Education Vicariate of the Archdiocese of Santiago.In the academic field, between 2005 and 2012, he was an associate assistant professor at PUC and a postgraduate professor in the Master of Public Policy program at the University for Development. After completing his term as Minister of State in March 2022, he joined the new Territorial Coexistence Observatory at the Andrés Bello University.
Political Career
At the Pontifical Catholic University, he was active in student leadership as a member of the Guildist Movement. He served as counselor, president of his faculty, and president of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile Students Federation in 2003, a board that also included Arturo Squella as secretary general. In 2004, he was named one of the “100 Young Leaders” by El Sábado magazine of the El Mercurio newspaper.He is a member of the Independent Democratic Union party, where he served as deputy secretary between 2012 and 2014. He was also chief of staff to then-deputy José Antonio Kast.
In the 2013 parliamentary elections, he was elected as a deputy for the former 30th district of the Metropolitan Region, representing the UDI, for the 2014–2018 legislative term. He served on the standing committees on Economy, Development, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Consumer Protection and Tourism; Education; and Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples.
In the 2017 parliamentary elections, he was re-elected, this time for the new 14th district of the same region, for the 2018–2022 term. He served on the standing committees on Education and Health.
In parallel, in 2018, he was honored by the University of Chicago with the “Rising Star Award.”
However, on 28 July 2020, he ended his parliamentary term early to take on the position of Minister Secretary General of Government, appointed by President Sebastián Piñera. To fill his seat in the Chamber of Deputies, the UDI leadership appointed mayor of San Bernardo Nora Cuevas.
In October 2024, Jaime Bellolio ran for mayor of the Providencia commune in the municipal elections, being elected with 59.39% of the votes.