Sebastián Sichel

Sebastián Iglesias Sichel Ramírez (born July 30, 1977) is a Chilean lawyer, professor, ex minister of State and politician who served as president of the Banco del Estado de Chile (BancoEstado) from June 2020 until December 2020.[1][2][3] He also previously served as Minister of Social Development and Family and executive vice president of Corfo under the second government of Sebastián Piñera.[4] He was an independent candidate in the 2021 Chilean presidential election who ran under the centre-right Chile Podemos Más coalition.[5][6]

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Sichel and the second or maternal family name is Ramírez.

Sebastián Sichel
Sichel in 2019
President of the Banco del Estado de Chile
In office
4 June 2020 – 18 December 2020
Preceded byArturo Tagle
Succeeded byRicardo de Tezanos Pinto
Minister of Social Development
In office
19 June 2019 – 4 June 2020
Preceded byAlfredo Moreno
Succeeded byCristián Monckeberg
Executive Vicepresident of the CORFO
In office
9 March 2018 – 13 June 2019
Preceded byEduardo Bitrán
Succeeded byPablo Terrazas
Personal details
Born
Sebastián Andrés Sichel Ramírez

(1977-07-30) 30 July 1977
Santiago, Chile
NationalityChilean
Political party
Spouse(s)Bárbara Encina
ResidenceLas Condes, Chile
Alma mater
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionLawyer

In 2010, he was one of the founding members of El Dínamo,[7] an online newspaper on topics such as politics, culture, and sports.

Biography

Born in Santiago, his parents are Antonio Alejandro José Sichel Poblete and Ana María Ramírez Alvarado. His birth name was registered as Sebastián Sichel, but his paternal surname was changed to Iglesias after his mother married Saúl Iglesias.[8] When Sebastián Iglesias was 11 years old, he learned from his grandfather that Saúl Iglesias was not his father.[9] He then met his biological father for the first time at age 30 and changed his paternal surname back to Sichel, but retained Iglesias as his middle name out of affection.[8]

He studied at the María Goretti Lyceum, in Concón,[10] and the Alexander Fleming Lyceum. Subsequently, he obtained a law degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC) where he also obtained his master's degree in public law.[11][12] Sichel Ramírez was a professor of constitutional law at the San Sebastián University from 2016 to 2018.

In 2008, he married the journalist Bárbara Encina. They have three children.

Political career

In the 2013 parliamentary elections, he ran for the position of deputy for the districts of Las Condes, Vitacura and Lo Barnechea. His bid was supported by the Public Force movement.[8] The party later became the Citizens party (Ciudadanos), which was founded by Andrés Velasco, a former minister of Michelle Bachelet.

In a controversial move, he resigned from the Christian Democratic Party in 2015, distancing himself from emblematic figures such as Claudio Orrego, whose presidential candidacy Sichel worked for in 2013.[9] In 2016, he was on the verge of becoming a presidential candidate of the Citizens party for the 2017 Chilean general election.[13]

On November 19, 2017, he decided to publicly support Sebastián Piñera, distancing himself from Andrés Velasco.

On May 2, 2018,[14] during the second government of President Piñera, he became executive vice president of Corfo,[15] becoming the first member of the Citizens party to hold public office. He took command of the lithium exploitation contracts signed by his predecessor Eduardo Bitran with the company SQM.[16][17][18]

On June 13, 2019, he became Minister of Social Development and Family, after the cabinet change announced by President Piñera.[19]

After the crisis experienced within the Citizens party during the election of its leadership, Sichel resigned from the party and became one of the founders of the Libres ("Free") political movement in March 2019. The new political movement was led by ex-members of Citizens who distanced themselves from Andrés Velasco.[20]

He remained in the position of Minister of Social Development and Family until June 4, 2020, when he was reassigned by Piñera as president of BancoEstado.

Sichel remained BancoEstado's president until December 2020.[2][3] He shortly after announced his desire to participate as an independent candidate in a primary of the centre-right coalition Chile Podemos Más (previously Chile Vamos) for the 2021 Chilean presidential election.[21] On July 18, 2021, he won the coalition's primary and became its presidential candidate.[5] He received 49% of the vote, beating three other candidates including Joaquín Lavín, who previously ran in the 1999 and 2005 presidential elections and was considered a frontrunner in the primary.[22] Sichel is considered the favourite candidate of the private sector and is supported in his presidential campaign by prominent business figures.[23] In the presidential election on November 21, 2021, Sichel received 898,510 (12.79%) of votes cast, ranked fourth out of seven candidates, and did not qualify for the second round.[6]

Controversies

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile and the high level of unemployment in the country, on May 18, 2020, President Sebastián Piñera announced from inside La Moneda the delivery of a family basket in aid for the entire middle class. Sichel, in his position as Minister of Social Development and Family, had to publicly correct the president's announcement, maintaining that the "percentage of the population benefited" will only have a scope for "70% of the most vulnerable 40%".

On June 4, 2020, President Piñera announced a cabinet reshuffle amid the growing coronavirus cases in Chile. Former minister Cristián Monckeberg was then assigned to the Ministry of Social Development and Family, replacing Sichel, who was appointed as president of BancoEstado.[24]

References
  1. "Ministerio de Hacienda informó nombramiento de Sebastián Sichel como nuevo presidente de BancoEstado". corporativo.bancoestado.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  2. "BNamericas - Sebastián Sichel steps down from BancoEstado helm". BNamericas.com. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  3. "Presidente Piñera informó nombramiento de Ricardo de Tezanos Pinto como nuevo presidente de BancoEstado". corporativo.bancoestado.cl (in Spanish). December 21, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  4. "Ministerio de Desarrollo Social y Familia". Ministerio de Desarrollo Social y Familia (in Spanish). Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  5. Sherwood, Dave (July 19, 2021). Cooney, Peter (ed.). "Two political upstarts notch upset wins in Chile's presidential primaries". Reuters. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
  6. "Elección de Presidente 2021". Servicio Electoral de Chile (in Spanish). Archived from the original on November 23, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  7. Mujica, Kike (January 15, 2021). "Sebastián Sichel fuego cruzado". Revista SML (in Spanish). Archived from the original on January 16, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  8. Carmona Lopez, Alejandra (October 4, 2013). "El candidato a diputado por Las Condes que vivió en campamentos hippies y nunca vio tele cuando niño". El Mostrador (in Spanish). Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  9. Fernández G., M. Eugenia (July 14, 2017). ""Tarde o temprano vamos a ser socios con evópoli" – Revista Qué Pasa". Revista Qué Pasa (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 16, 2017. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  10. Palma, Sebastián (October 1, 2021). "Saúl Iglesias, primer padre de Sichel: "No entiendo para qué describe algo que es una realidad disfrazada"". The Clinic (in Spanish). Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  11. "Sebastián Sichel Ramírez – Foro de Economía Circular". Foro Economía Circular (in Spanish). Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  12. "Exalumno Derecho UC Sebastián Sichel liderará el Ministerio de Desarrollo Social y Familia". derecho.uc.cl (in Spanish). June 13, 2019. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  13. Briones, Nicole (November 19, 2016). "Movimiento "Ciudadanos" presenta a Sebastián Sichel como posible candidato presidencial". BioBioChile (in Spanish). Retrieved July 10, 2018.
  14. Brion Cea, Felipe (July 16, 2018). "Vicepresidente ejecutivo de Corfo, Sebastián Sichel: "Una de las promesas de la Corfo es que no pedirá aumento de recursos el próximo año"". La Tercera (in Spanish). Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  15. S.A.P., El Mercurio (April 24, 2018). "Gobierno nombra a Sebastián Sichel como nuevo vicepresidente ejecutivo de Corfo | Emol.com". Emol (in Spanish). Retrieved July 10, 2018.
  16. Brion, Felipe (May 6, 2018). "Sichel creará comisión especial en Corfo para evitar conflictos de interés en temas de litio – PULSO". Pulso. Archived from the original on July 18, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  17. Leiva, Diego (June 6, 2018). "Sebastián Sichel: "Los términos del contrato (con SQM) es lo que acordó la Corfo anterior"". 24Horas.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  18. Valladares, Javier (July 12, 2018). "¿Es litio el nuevo cobre? Para Sebastián Sichel de la Corfo, "mirando números duros, no lo es"". Radio Concierto (in Spanish). Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  19. Labarca, Daniel (June 13, 2019). "Los seis factores que incidieron en el cambio de gabinete". La Tercera (in Spanish). Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  20. Arellano, Jorge (March 25, 2019). "Ex "Ciudadanos" se reagrupan en "Libres" y se reúnen hoy con el Presidente Piñera". La Tercera (in Spanish). Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  21. "Sichel: "Soy candidato a presidente como independiente en la primaria de Chile Vamos"". CNN Chile (in Spanish). December 20, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  22. "Elecciones en Chile: Gabriel Boric y Sebastián Sichel ganan las primarias y son los dos primeros candidatos que buscarán la presidencia en las elecciones de noviembre". BBC Mundo (in Spanish). July 18, 2021. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
  23. "Derecha económica se cuadra con Sichel antes que los partidos políticos". El Mostrador (in Spanish). July 20, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  24. Editor, Web (June 4, 2020). "President Piñera announces cabinet change amid COVID-19 outbreak". Chile News | Breaking News, Views, Analysis. Retrieved June 7, 2020.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.