Camilo Escalona, former president of Chile’s Socialist Party, dies at 71

Camilo Escalona, one of the most influential figures in Chilean socialism over the past five decades, has died at 71 after a deterioration in his health linked to prostate cancer. His death was announced by the Socialist Party, which said he remained its secretary-general.

Escalona led the party in three periods: from 1994 to 1998, from 2001 to 2003, and from 2006 to 2010. Those years coincided with the consolidation of socialism as a central force in the coalition that governed Chile for two decades after the end of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.

He later served as president of the Chilean Senate from 2012 to 2013. He never became a minister or a presidential candidate, instead building his political career in Congress after democracy returned in 1990. He had joined the Socialist Youth in 1969, at age 13, and rose from student leadership to become president of Santiago’s secondary students’ federation.

After the 1973 coup that overthrew Salvador Allende, Escalona lived in exile in Vienna, Cuba and East Berlin. He later returned to Chile in the 1980s and went underground, experiences he regarded as defining moments in his life. He withdrew from public politics earlier this year because of his illness and had spoken about it publicly only once, saying it was a personal matter.

The Socialist Party called his death a loss for the party, Chile’s democratic movement and those who had shared decades of political and social struggle with him. President José Antonio Kast also offered condolences: "I regret the death of Camilo Escalona. I knew him as a lawmaker. We stood on opposite sides of politics. I recognize in him someone who exercised his leadership clearly and directly."

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I regret the death of Camilo Escalona. I knew him as a lawmaker. We stood on opposite sides of politics. I recognize in him someone who exercised his leadership clearly and directly.