Lautaro Carmona
Lautaro Carmona Soto is a Chilean politician and public administrator who has served as President of the Communist Party of Chile since 2023. A lifelong party member, he rose through its ranks during the Pinochet dictatorship and later served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile for the Atacama Region from 2010 to 2018.
Early life and education
Lautaro Carmona Soto was born in Limache, in central Chile's Valparaíso Region. His parents, Ramón Carmona and Yolanda Soto, were both teachers; his father was also a writer and poet. He attended high school in San Miguel, a commune of Santiago, and went on to graduate with a degree in public administration from the University of Chile in 1977.Political career
Early activism and opposition to the Pinochet regime
Carmona's political involvement began early. He joined the Communist Youth of Chile in 1968 while still in secondary school and campaigned for socialist presidential candidate Salvador Allende the following year. Following the 1973 military coup that overthrew Allende, the Communist Party was banned and driven underground. Carmona played a significant role in its clandestine reorganization. In 1977, he traveled secretly to several communist nations, including Cuba and the Soviet Union, for coordination and training.From 1979 to 1989, operating under the pseudonym Camilo Contreras, he served as the Secretary General of the Communist Youth and was elevated to the party's Political Commission, its top leadership body.
Democratic transition and senior party roles
After Chile's return to democracy in 1990, Carmona remained a central figure in the PCCh. He held several high-level internal positions, including National Reorganization Officer and member of both the Political Commission and the Central Committee. Following the death of longtime party leader Gladys Marín in 2005, he was elected Secretary General, a post he held for nearly two decades, serving as the party's chief operational officer.Parliamentary tenure
After unsuccessful bids for the Chamber of Deputies in 1997 and 2001, Carmona was elected in the 2009 parliamentary election, representing District 5 in the mineral-rich Atacama Region. He was re-elected in 2013. During his two terms, he served on several key committees, notably those for Government and Interior, Human Rights, and Labor.In the 2017 election, he ran for the Senate from Atacama but was defeated. He made another bid for the Chamber of Deputies in the 2021 election under Chile's new electoral districting but was not successful.