Cristián Cuevas (politician) explained

Cristián Cuevas
Birth Date:1969 3, df=y
Birth Place:Coronel, Chile
Office:President of the Chilean Confederation of Copper Workers
Term Start:2007
Term End:2008
Party:Socialist Party
Communist Party
Social Convergence
Otherparty:New Democracy
(2016−2019)
Popular Victory
(2019−2021)
The List of the People
(2021)
Occupation:Politician
Profession:Social worker

Cristián Eduardo Cuevas Zambrano (born 22 March 1969) is a Chilean trade unionist and politician.

On 5 August 2021, The List of the People (LdP) announced Cuevas' nomination as presidential candidate for the general election after having won an internal vote, where he obtained 43 of the 76 votes.[1] [2] However, on 10 August, his candidacy was deposed by the proper LdP after their announcement of a public consultation to define a new candidate.[3]

Early life

He is Son of Eleodoro Cuevas, a coal miner, and Benicia Zambrano, Cuevas has ten siblings. By the other hand, he completed the secondary school at the A−49 Lyceé of Coronel[4] for then joining to the career of social work at the ARCIS University.

In 1997, after living in Los Andes for a year, he began his work as a worker at Sodexho Chile, a transnational food company at Minera Andina (property of Codelco), where he worked until 2003.

In March 2008, when he was a union leader of Codelco workers, he referred to his sexual orientation for a first time in an interview for Paula magazine[5] as well as in Punto Final, where he claimed to constantly participate in the gay pride day marches.[6] Similarly, in January 2012, he declared to the supplement El Semanal, of the newspaper La Tercera, that he didn't need to get married because he was «happily accompanied».[7]

Political career

When he was 14, Cuevas began his militancy in the Socialist Party of Chile, where he joined the National Coordinator of Regionals (CNR), an extinct revolutionary fraction in the party.

In 1998, he met Gladys Marín while he was participating in a human rights march. There, according to her statements, she caused him such admiration that he decided to support his presidential candidacy in the 1999–00 elections, reason why he joined the Communist Party of Chile (PC).

In the 2009 parliamentary election, the PC proclaimed him in May a candidate for deputy for the 46th district (corresponding to Lota and Arauco Province), but he wasn't elected. In 2013, he ran for the lower chamber again, this time for the 3rd District, but didn't get the position either.

In May 2014, he was appointed labor attaché in Spain by the second government of Michelle Bachelet (2014−2018).[8] Then, on 4 September 2015, he announced his resignation to the PC.[9]

On 4 September 2016, he was a founding member of the movement Nueva Democracia (ND).[10] Thus, ND formed part of the Broad Front when the coalition was established on 21 January 2017 by different left-wing parties and organizations.

In 2019, ND merged with other groups into Social Convergence.[11] However, during the Social outbreak, Cuevas resigned in rejection of Gabriel Boric's participation in the November 15th agreement to draft a new Constitution, which emerged amid massive riots.[12]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: La controversial carrera política y sindical de Cristián Cuevas, el abanderado presidencial de la Lista del Pueblo. 8 August 2021. Rivas. Claudia. Diario Financiero.
  2. Web site: Cristián Cuevas deberá reunir 33 mil firmas para ser candidato presidencial por la Lista del Pueblo. El Periodista Online. 8 August 2021. 6 August 2021.
  3. Web site: Lista del Pueblo frena la candidatura de Cristián Cuevas y define realizar una "consulta ciudadana" para elegir a su abanderado presidencial. La Tercera. 10 August 2021. 10 August 2021.
  4. Web site: 20 cosas que hay que saber sobre Cristián Cuevas, el candidato de la Lista del Pueblo que rompió con el PC y el FA. Ex-Ante. Alex. Von Baer. Jaime. Sánchez. 6 August 2021. 16 November 2021.
  5. Web site: Líder sindical del cobre pasa a la lista de personajes públicos que han salido del closet en Chile. OpusGay. E.. Ramírez. 19 March 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20090415002501/http://opusgay.cl/1315/article-81285.html. 16 November 2021. 2009-04-15.
  6. Web site: El Pueblo debe volver a las calles. Punto Final. 2008. 16 November 2021. 2 February 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200202235031/http://www.puntofinal.cl/662/pueblo.php. dead.
  7. Web site: El cuestionario de Jodorowsky: Cristián Cuevas. La Tercera. Alejandro. Jodorowsky. 8 January 2012. 16 November 2021. Alejandro Jodorowsky.
  8. Web site: Gobierno nombra a agregados laborales en Argentina España y Ginebra. Pulso. 16 May 2014. 17 May 2014.
  9. Web site: Cristián Cuevas: En agosto pasado decidí, tras 17 años, alejarme del PC. ADN Radio Chile. 4 September 2015. 4 September 2015.
  10. Web site: Ex militante PC Cristián Cuevas lanza partido político "Nueva Democracia" . El Mercurio. 5 September 2016. 5 September 2016.
  11. Web site: "Convergencia Social", el partido de Boric, Sharp, Cuevas y Yeomans en el Frente Amplio. Radio Cooperativa. 19 May 2019. 16 November 2021.
  12. Web site: Convergencia Social en crisis: se suman otras 112 renuncias al partido. El Dínamo. 23 November 2019. 16 November 2019.