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Laura Allende

In this Chilean name, the first or paternal surname is Allende and the second or maternal family name is Gossens.

Laura Allende Gossens
Deputy of the Republic of Chile for the 7th Departmental Group, Santiago and the 2nd Departmental Group, Talagante
In office
1965–1969
PresidentEduardo Frei Montalva
In office
1969–1973
PresidentSalvador Allende
In office
1973 – 21 September 1973 α
Succeeded byCongress dissolved
Personal details
Born(1911-09-03)3 September 1911
Valparaíso, Chile
Died23 May 1981(1981-05-23) (aged 69)
Hotel Riviera, Havana, Cuba
Resting placeSantiago General Cemetery
Political partySocialist Party of Chile
Children
4, including
Parent
Relatives
EducationLa Universidad de Chile en Valparaíso
OccupationPolitician

Laura Sofía Allende Gossens [1] (3 September 1911 – 23 May 1981) was a Chilean politician and member of the Allende family.

Early life and education

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Allende was born on 3 September 1911 in Valparaíso, the youngest daughter of Salvador Allende Castro [es] and Laura Gossens Uribe.[2] Through her father, Allende was a member of the Allende family, a prominent Chilean political family. Allende's older brother was the Doctor and Chilean President, Salvador Allende.[2]

Educated at the Colegio de los Sagrados Corazones de Valparaíso-Viña del Mar [es] and the Liceo de Viña del Mar, Allende studied law at the La Universidad de Chile en Valparaíso (present-day University of Valparaíso).[2] While at the university Allende joined The Socialist Youth of Chile, the youth wing of Socialist Party of Chile.[2]

Family

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Allende married Gastón Pascal Lyon (1909–1993) and had four children, Pedro Gastón, Marianne, the Socialist Party of Chile politician Denise Pascal, and Andrés Pascal Allende the co-founder and secretary general of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR).[2][3][4][5]

Through her brother Salvador, Allende was the aunt of Isabel Allende and Beatriz Allende.[2] Beatriz's daughter Maya Fernández was Allende's great-niece.[2]

Political career

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From 1955–1965, Allende worked for the Copper Office (Departamento del Cobre).[2] In 1965, Allende was elected Deputy of the Republic of Chile for Santiago and Talagante and was reelected twice in 1969 and 1973.[2]

Allende was part of two international delegations to Havana in 1971 and to China in May 1973.[2] At that time, she already was showing the initial symptoms of lymphatic cancer.

Arrest

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On 2 November 1974, Allende was arrested at her home with her daughter Marianne, and charged with involvement with the outlawed MIR.[6][2] The same day Inés Alonso Boudat and Diana Beausire Alonso, the mother and sister of Andrés Pascal Allende's then wife Mary Ann Beausire Alonso, were also arrested.[7] Mary Ann's brother, the commercial engineer William Beausire, was abducted by DINA agents at Ministro Pistarini International Airport, Buenos Aires.[8][9][10]

Following Allende's arrest a communiqué by the Under Secretary of the Interior Enrique Montero Marx [es], posited that four grenades were found in Allende's home alongside letters and documents supporting the MIR.[6] Allende was detained at the Tres Álamos political prison camp, and was held in the Cuatro Álamos [es] isolation wing for a period of 5 months.[11][12][13] During Allende's imprisonment, Gastón Pascal Lyon was also detained in isolation at Cuatro Álamos.[12] On 6 November 1974, the Mexican Government offered to accept Allende as a political exile.[14]

Life in exile

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On 21 March 1975, Allende was exiled from Chile indefinitely and was deported to Mexico alongside 94 other Chilean political exiles.[15] In 1976, Sergio Insunza requested that the International Commission of Investigation into Crimes of the Military Junta in Chile (Spanish: Comisión Internacional de Investigación de Crímenes de la Junta Militar en Chile) heard Allende's testimony of her imprisonment.[16][17]

From 1976 onwards Allende lived in Cuba.[2] In 1979 Dr. Alejandro Artucio, a representative for the International Commission of Jurists, made an appeal to the Chilean authorities for Allende to be allowed to return from exile.[11] Following a terminal cancer diagnosis, Allende committed suicide at the Hotel Riviera in Havana on the 23 May 1981.[18][19][20] Allende left a suicide note for Fidel Castro, expressing the difficulty of her physical condition and her great sorrow that she couldn't return to Chile.[19][20][21] On 25 May, the Committee for the Return of Exiles [es] (Spanish: Comité Pro Retorno de Exiliados Chilenos) released a public statement.[22]

Upon her ashes returning to Chile, a Requiem for Allende's was held on the 28 May 1988 in Santiago.[23] On 28 August 1988, Allende was reinterred at the Allende family mausoleum in the Santiago General Cemetery.[2]

Notes

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^α Mandate 1973–1977 was interrupted by the dissolution of the Chilean National Congress on 21 September 1973.[24]

References

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  1. ^ "Víctima Valech (A - B) : Allende Gossens Laura Sofía". Archivo de Fondos y Colecciones : Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (in Spanish). Santiago: Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile. "Reseña Biográfica Laura Allende Gossens". Reseñas biográficas parlamentarias (in Spanish). Valparaíso: Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  3. ^ "Registro de autoridad : Pascal Allende, Pedro Gastón". Archivo Nacional de Chile (in Spanish). Santiago: Archivo Nacional de Chile. 2024. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  4. ^ "Registro de autoridad: Pascal Allende, Marianne". Archivo Nacional de Chile (in Spanish). Santiago: Archivo Nacional de Chile. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  5. ^ "Registro de autoridad: Pascal Allende, Denise Simone". Archivo Nacional de Chile (in Spanish). Santiago: Archivo Nacional de Chile. 2024. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Sister of Allende Arrested in Chile". The New York Times. 5 November 1974. p. 10. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  7. ^ Belton, Neil (1998). "Poor Ghost". The Good Listener - Helen Bamber: A Life Against Cruelty (1 ed.). New York: Pantheon. pp. 229–266. ISBN 0-375-40100-8.
  8. ^ UN. Commission on Human Rights. Expert on the Question of the Fate of Missing and Disappeared Persons in Chile (1980). "Case Report No. 8". Case reports on missing persons in Chile / prepared by the Expert on the Question of the Fate of Missing and Disappeared Persons in Chile appointed pursuant to resolution 11 (XXXV) of the Commission on Human Rights. Geneva: United Nations Commission on Human Rights. pp. 49–54. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
  9. ^ Ortiz Rojas, María Luisa; Sandoval Osorio, Marcela Paz, eds. (2015). "Guillermo Roberto Beausire Alonso". Operación Cóndor : Historias personales, memorias compartidas (PDF) (in Spanish). Santiago de Chile: Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos. pp. 39–41. ISBN 978-956-9144-33-2. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
  10. ^ Memoria Viva (2023). "Beausire Alonso Guillermo Roberto". Memoria Viva (in Spanish). London: Proyecto Internacional de Derechos Humanos. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
  11. ^ a b "Activities in the United Nations: Chile: 1979 Commission on Human Rights". ICJ Report on Activities: 1977-1980 (PDF). Geneva: International Commission of Jurists. 1981. pp. 64–65. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  12. ^ a b Cabieses Donoso, Manuel (1974). "Testimonio de Manuel Cabieses Donoso (Periodista. Ex Director de la Revista "Punto Final")". Memoria Viva : Archivo digital de las Violaciones a los Derechos Humanos por la Dictadura Militar en Chile (1973-1990) (in Spanish). London: Proyecto Internacional de Derechos Humanos. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  13. ^ "Se suicido la hermana de Salvador Allende". El País (in Spanish). 1981. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  14. ^ "An Act to Aid Allende Sister". The New York Times: 18. 7 November 1974. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  15. ^ "Allende's Sister in Mexico After Flight From Chile". The New York Times: 7. 22 March 1975. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  16. ^ Insunza Barrios, Sergio (1976). "000006 - Solicita se reciba el testimonio de las personas que se indica". Archivo de Fondos y Colecciones (in Spanish). Santiago de Chile: Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos Chile. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  17. ^ "Comisión Internacional de Investigación de Crímenes de la Junta Militar en Chile". Archivo de Fondos y Colecciones (in Spanish). Santiago de Chile: Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos Chile. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  18. ^ Gott, Richard (2009). "Obituary : Hortensia Bussi de Allende". The Guardian. London: The Guardian. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  19. ^ a b "Laura Allende Gossens". El libro 109 parlamentarias: en 209 años de historia del Congreso Nacional de Chile (in Spanish). Valparaíso: Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile. 2020. pp. 80–81. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  20. ^ a b "Laura Allende dejó una carta a Fidel Castro explicando su suicidio". El País (in Spanish). 1981. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  21. ^ Allende Gossens, Laura (1981). "CARTA A FIDEL CASTRO" (PDF). Archivos Salvador Allende (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  22. ^ Comité Pro Retorno de Exiliados Chilenos (1981). "UDS000111 - Decreto N°1333". Sistema Nacional de Archivos (in Spanish). Santiago de Chile: Archivo Nacional de Chile. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  23. ^ Navarro Vega, Luis (1988). "Misa por Laura Allende Gossens". Biblioteca Nacional de Chile : Archivo Fotográfico. Santiago: Biblioteca Nacional de Chile. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  24. ^ "Decreto Ley 27 | Disuelve El Congreso Nacional" (in Spanish). Valparaíso: Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile. 1973. Retrieved 1 June 2025.