Julián Echavarri

Julián Abel Echavarri Elorza was a Chilean accountant, politician and diplomat. He served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, as a Senator, and later as Chilean ambassador to Spain and Poland during the government of Eduardo Frei Montalva.

Biography

Echavarri was the son of Leocadio Echavarri and Anselma Elorza. He studied at the Instituto Superior de Comercio in Concepción, graduating as an accountant in 1928.
He married Isabel Fontanet, and later Sonia Mafalda del Carmen Lanas Hidalgo, with whom he had children.
He worked in commerce in Temuco and Osorno and was a partner in Echevarri y Bravo Ltda., engaged in agriculture, forestry and cattle ranching. He owned the estates Chaucal, Lumas and Puñire on Lake Panguipulli. He was also director of Exportadora de Maderas de Chile S.A. and involved in the car distribution company "Cautín". He was a member of the National Agriculture Society, the Club de la Unión and the Santiago Jockey Club.

Political career

Echavarri joined the Agrarian Party in 1933, moving to the Agrarian Labor Party in 1945. He was elected deputy for the 21st Departmental Group in 1937, serving until 1957. He sat on the Permanent Commissions of Finance, Agriculture and Colonization, Economy and Commerce, and later Labor and Social Legislation.
In 1954 he founded and presided over the National Agrarian Party, later joining the National Party, of which he became president.
In the 1957 Chilean parliamentary election, he was elected senator for the 7th Provincial Group, serving until 1965. In the Senate he joined the Agriculture and Colonization Commission.
In 1958 he entered the Christian Democratic Party, and under President Eduardo Frei Montalva he was appointed Chilean ambassador to Spain and later to Poland.