Lucia Hiriart

María Lucía Hiriart Rodríguez (Antofagasta, December 10, 1923-Santiago, December 16, 2021), also known as Lucía Hiriart de Pinochet, was the wife and widow of Augusto Pinochet. She held the formal position of first lady of Chile during the military dictatorship led by her spouse between 1973 and 1990.

Biography

Early years and family

Born into a wealthy family of Basque-French origin. She was the eldest daughter of the lawyer and radical politician Osvaldo Hiriart Corvalán, and Lucía Rodríguez Auda, daughter of a rich lawyer.The Hiriarts belonged to Chile's political elite.

On her paternal side, she is a descendant of the French count, politician and writer Dominique Joseph Garat, great-granddaughter of the Frenchman Pierre Fabien Hiriart Etchecoin, originally from the Pyrenees-Atlantiques who arrived in Chile in 1860, and granddaughter of Luciano Hiriart Azócar, who fought in the Pacific War and was mayor of Talca.

When he was 10 years old, his family moved to Santiago. She studied at the San Bernardo high school, where she was elected beauty queen. She excelled in mathematics and developed tastes for opera, dance and books related to biographies, science and archaeology. She then pursued studies related to early childhood education and business administration.

Marriage and children

Hiriart met the then second lieutenant Augusto Pinochet in September 1941, with whom he began a relationship. On April 11, 1942, Pinochet asked for Hiriart's hand. Her father did not look favorably on this union as a result of the boyfriend's military career - which had low social value at that time and which at that time was far from the highest positions. social strata—, and because of Pinochet's middle-class origin.

Despite this, they contracted a civil marriage on January 29, 1943, and a religious marriage the following day, with the then president Juan Antonio Ríos and the first lady Marta Ide Pereira among the guests at the wedding celebration, who were friends of the Hiriart family. The couple had five children, three women and two men: Inés Lucía, Augusto Osvaldo, María Verónica, Marco Antonio and Jacqueline Marie.

For a time the couple lived outside Chile, in Quito with their three eldest children, where Pinochet was part of the founding team of the Ecuadorian War Academy, which allowed him to frequent diplomatic circles and Ecuadorian high society..

Death

He died on December 16, 2021 at the age of 98 in his son Marco Antonio's apartment in Lo Barnechea at 4:00 p.m., after multiple medical and especially respiratory complications that became more pronounced over the years.; In the previous three weeks, his health was declining sharply and the death certificate established that his cause of death was cardiorespiratory arrest due to ischemic heart disease. He spent the last days of his life at home with his family. His son Marco Antonio reported that the funeral was private and his body was cremated in the Parque del memoria Cemetery to be later transferred to the chapel of the Los Boldos hacienda.

Public life

Role in the coup d'état

Famous for being a strong and dominant woman, confidant and right hand of her husband, Hiriart would have been, in Pinochet's own words, one of the people who most influenced his decision to lead the coup d'état against President Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973.

Pinochet had decided that on the day of the coup, his wife and minor children should be away from Santiago. At an undetermined time on Monday, September 10, Hiriart and his teenage children Marco Antonio and Jacqueline Marie arrived at the Mountain School, located in the town of Río Blanco, Los Andes, which was a military compound commanded by Colonel Renato Cantuarias. Bigon. If the coup failed, they would cross the border until they were safe in Argentina.

First lady of the military dictatorship

She is considered one of the closest advisors that Augusto Pinochet had during the almost sixteen and a half years of the military dictatorship. It was always discussed how much power she had over decisions in the government. There are political episodes in which she influenced, such as the dismissal of Foreign Minister Hernán Cubillos after Pinochet's frustrated trip to the Philippines, or the extension of General Manuel Contreras in his position as director of the Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA). Due to Since there was a certain international political isolation towards the military dictatorship, Hiriart and Pinochet traveled little officially abroad.

They traveled officially to Spain, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Bolivia and the United States on the occasion of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties. However, Hiriart frequently traveled outside Chile on a private basis.

In 1982, she was received at the White House by first lady Nancy Reagan, reaffirming the Reagan administration's position in favor of her husband's government.

While the Governing Board had its headquarters in the Diego Portales Building from 1973 to 1981, Hiriart was installed on the 17th floor advised by around twenty people. During this period, she stood out for her strong defense of what she had done. by the regime, and for leading the construction and refoundation of a series of institutions such as CEMA Chile, the September Foundation, the National Cancer Corporation, the National Kindergarten and Christmas Committee, the National Community Aid Foundation, among others. The most emblematic institution was CEMA Chile, an organization that he continued to preside over until August 2016.

After the military dictatorship

In 2005, the Internal Revenue Service filed a complaint against her, accusing her of complicity in the crime of tax evasion (for an amount of approximately 2.35 million US dollars) in the framework of the Riggs Case, and she was prosecuted for said cause. She was remanded in custody for a day. The courts eventually overturned the prosecutions against Hiriart in January 2007.

On October 4, 2007, the visiting minister Carlos Cerda ordered his indictment and arrest, along with his five children and 17 other people, for the crime of embezzlement of public funds. The same day she was admitted by ambulance to the Military Hospital of Santiago. On October 6 of that year she was released on bail, and on October 26 the process against her was annulled by the Court of Appeals of Santiago on the grounds that there was a violation of her individual guarantees.

In one of his last public appearances he was seen at the funeral of his friend, the former first lady of Chile Rosa Markmann in June 2009, who gave his absolute support to Pinochet and his government from the beginning. In December 2011, he participated in a mass in memory of Augusto Pinochet five years after his death, which was held in the chapel built at the Hacienda Los Boldos, in the Hacienda Bucalemu, where Pinochet had his rest residence. Again on the 25th November 2015, she attended the same place already mentioned, along with relatives and supporters of the late general (r) to commemorate the 100th birth of her late husband. Her last public appearances were in December 2019, at a mass commemorating the death of her husband, and in April 2020, at the funeral of the politician and founder of Renovación Nacional Sergio Onofre Jarpa.

Personality

She has been described as a dominant woman with a keen political sense, determined and autonomous, implacable, arbitrary and uncompassionate. She always expressed her ideas more directly than her husband. At official receptions, she was a loquacious speaker, while Pinochet was silent, known for his poor command of words. Privately, it was known that Hiriart treated her husband contemptuously on many occasions and especially when they had differences on a personal level before the Coup d'état. She participated in the decisions that mattered to her, such as the nominations of mayors or attachés. soldiers in Chilean embassies abroad or dismissals of officials who fell into their displeasure.

Eccentricities

During her years as first lady, her husband's detractors accused her of being a frivolous woman, since she was known for her taste in Chanel or Christian Dior hats and suits and for owning a large collection of fur coats. She also bought European footwear, having thousands of pairs according to rumors. She also bought jewelry at the finest Chilean jewelry stores Casa Barros and Joyería Ibáñez. She had a personal hairdresser, makeup artist and photographer.

His beautician was the famous television personality Gonzalo Cáceres and his photographer was Ignacio Pérez Cotapos, director of the defunct magazine "Paparazzi". When he wore national fashion, he chose the José Cardoch store or the designer Laura Rivas, the only representative of the Nina Ricci house in Chile.

In winter he wore wool and fur, and in summer linen or cambric. She also ordered haute couture dresses in the main fashion cities in Europe and they were sent through diplomatic bags from the different Chilean embassies of the countries of origin. It was known that before coming to power she had a medium collection of jewelry, but during the years of her husband's government, that collection increased considerably. She also refined her customs and became a fan of “tea time.”

In 1975 he traveled with Pinochet to Spain to attend the funeral of Francisco Franco. During the days they remained in Madrid, despite being in national mourning, the most exclusive boutiques in the capital opened their doors for the first lady, who spent a million dollars on beauty products, jewelry and dresses. The money came from of travel expenses assigned by commission of services.

After Franco's funeral, the Pinochet couple attended the proclamation of Juan Carlos I as king. Hiriart was placed in one of the boxes of the Palace of Cortes behind Princess Grace of Monaco and Imelda Marcos.

London became one of the first lady's favorite cities. Even before Pinochet's arrest in that country, she had already made several visits to the English capital.During those stays, she shopped at the exclusive Harrods boutique, where she chose gifts for her grandchildren.

Real estate

He also had a love for decorating his houses and estates. First in the mansion on Presidente Errázuriz Street where she lived with her husband since he became head of the Army. By order of the first lady, the house was completely remodeled, giving it a French house style.

Subsequently, in 1984 the Pinochet Hiriarts gave the order to begin the construction of their new house in the Lo Curro area. A piece of land of 80 thousand square meters was purchased that cost one million dollars at the time, where a house of six thousand square meters was built. He recommended that the Italian and Spanish marble floors be changed a couple of times, since he couldn't find the color he preferred, and installed glass in the windows that were imported from Belgium. He built himself a cinema, saunas, gym, swimming pools, tunnels, an air raid shelter and even an equipped clinic. The construction of the ostentatious house cost approximately twenty million dollars and the scandal was such that Pinochet decided to transfer the residence to the army where the Military Club is currently located. Hiriart ended up building his residence on the exclusive Los Flamencos street in La Dehesa.

The family also acquired other assets throughout Chile. One of the many properties that Pinochet bought was a seven-hectare plot in El Melocotón, where they built a 606-square-meter chalet. Hiriart requested that the house be built in a different location than indicated in the plans and was involved in making decisions about its design and location, which affected the development of the work. He asked to stop the work on several occasions, undo what had been advanced and rebuild according to his wishes.