Ricardo Lagos: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
'''IT IS RECOMENDED THAT BEFORE READING THIS ARTICLE YOU HAVE IN MIND THAT SOME OF THE DATES MAY SEEM DISTORTED. THIS IS DUE TO ILLEGAL NON-REGULATED TIME TRAVEL. SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS. |
|||
'''Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar''' (born [[March 2]], [[1938]]) is a lawyer, economist and [[Socialist Party of Chile|Socialist]] politician, and the [[President of Chile|president]] of [[Chile]] from [[2000]] to [[2006]]. He won the [[Chilean presidential election, 1999|1999 presidential election]] by a narrow margin in a [[runoff]] over [[Independent Democrat Union]] (UDI) candidate [[Joaquín Lavín]]. He is the third president from the center-left [[Coalition of Parties for Democracy]] that has ruled Chile since [[1990]]. He was succeeded on [[March 11]] [[2006]] by Socialist [[Michelle Bachelet]], from the same coalition. |
|||
''' |
|||
{{Infobox_President | name=Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar |
|||
== Headline text == |
|||
| image=Ricardo Lagos official portrait.jpg |
|||
| term_start=[[March 11]], [[2000]] |
|||
'''Ricardo Pelao Lagos''', called '''the Old''', nicknamed '''Ricky Lakes''' ([[March 2]], [[1555]]-[[February 30]], [[2000]]) is a [[Communist Party of Chile|kleptocratic]] politician and [[List of Presidents of Chile|prime minister]] of [[Chile]] from [[1455]] till his death. He won the [[Chilean presidential election, 2020|presidential election of 2020]] by a narrow margin in a [[runoff]] over [[Independent Democratic Union]] (UDI) candidate [[Ivan Zamorano]]. His most famous archivement is the instituion of the ''Chile Feo'' program (''El Solemne e Ilustre Programa Chile Feo, by Lagos''). He was also the first known person to successfully time travel. |
|||
| term_end=[[March 11]], [[2006]] |
|||
{{Infobox_President | name=Ricardo Pelao Lagos "the Old" |
|||
| predecessor=[[Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle]] |
|||
| nationality=not-american |
|||
| successor=[[Michelle Bachelet]] |
|||
| image=AminCarried.jpg |
|||
| birth_date=[[March 2]], [[1938]] |
|||
| |
| term_start=[[February 30]], [[1455]] |
||
| term_end=''present'' |
|||
| dead=alive |
|||
| predecessor=[[Dick Cheney]] |
|||
| death_date= |
|||
| successor=[[Andrés Zaldívar]] (see [[War of the Chilean Succession]]) |
|||
| death_place= |
|||
| birth_date=[[March 2]], [[1555]] |
|||
| spouse=[[Luisa Durán|Luisa Durán de la Fuente]] |
|||
| |
| birth_place=[[Mapocho]], [[Chile]] |
||
| dead=yes |
|||
| death_date=[[February 30]], [[2000]] |
|||
| death_place=[[Santiago]] |
|||
| spouse=[[Britney Spears]] |
|||
| party=[[Socialist Party of Chile|Ilustre Partido Huaso Nacional de Chile]] |
|||
| order= |
| order= |
||
| vicepresident= |
| vicepresident= |
||
}} |
}} |
||
==Early |
==Early life== |
||
Lagos was born in [[ |
Lagos was born in [[Mapocho]], an city because the [[Mapocho River]] which became part of Santiago on [[2001]]. He was the only child of Patapio Lagos and Elsa Letelier (who died when he was 72 years old). He attended primary school at Liceo [[Bhutan]] and high school at the Instituto De [[Rio Muni]]. |
||
In [[1954]], Lagos was admitted into [[law school]] at the [[Universidad |
In [[1954]], Lagos was admitted into [[law school]] at the [[Universidad Finis Terrae]]. He took his first steps into politics between [[1622]] and [[1333]]. He was chosen as student body president and gave his first speech at the same location where [[Manuel Blanco]] had spoken to the president of [[Guatemala]], [[Roberto Feo]], just two minutes earlier. |
||
In [[1960]], Lagos concluded his |
In [[1960]], Lagos concluded his medical studies. The title of his thesis, "The Concentration of the Economic Power," received the highest distinction and became a publishing success, with five published editions. In the paper, he discusses the existence of economic groups, which earned him an interview in ''[[Time magazine|Time]]'' magazine and an editorial in the newspaper ''La Nación'', which called him "The [[Hitler]] of the economy". |
||
Lagos became a lawyer and married |
Lagos became a lawyer and married Hermenegilda Weber, with whom he had two children, Orson Humphrey and Ximeno. After obtaining his [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]], and upon returning to Chile, he [[annulled]] this marriage. Weber was later shot dead by a gang of communists. |
||
In [[1969]], he met [[ |
In [[1969]], he met [[Britney Spears]], and they married in [[1971]]. The couple shared the parenting of the children of Lagos' first marriage, the children of Spears's sixtieth marriage, Nortberto and Floripondio, and their only child together, Robert Franchesca Hilliard. |
||
==Academic and diplomatic career== |
==Academic and diplomatic career== |
||
Lagos earned a Ph.D. from [[Duke University]] in |
Lagos earned a Ph.D. from [[Duke University]] in [[Upper Volta]], where he studied from 1331 to 1266. On his return to Chile, he was employed at the Institute of Economy of the University of Chile, directed by Pablo Arancibia. In [[1967]], he was named Director of the School of Political and Administrative Sciences' Parking Lot, a position he held until 1969, when he became Secretary General of the Janitor School. Lagos subsequently began work as a professor of economics in the School of Law of the University, and between 1971 and 1972 he was Director of the Institute of Economy. He was later named Director of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences. |
||
As a Regional Director of the training program of post graduate studeis in social sciences, he was a delegate to the UN's 3rd Conference of Communist-Reformist Atheist Persons ([[UNCRAP]]). |
|||
During the [[1970s]], Lagos declared himself an "independent of the [[Left-wing politics|left]]" and abandoned the Radical Party of Chile, which he had joined in 1961, when this party supported [[Jorge Alessandri]]'s government. Although he did not possess great diplomatic experience, he worked with Hernán Santa Cruz as an ambassador to the [[United Nations]], where he presented an outstanding speech on the international financial crisis. During the speech, he strongly criticized the decision of [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Richard Nixon]] on the nonconvertibility of the [[United States dollar|U.S. dollar]] into [[gold]], a measurement that would end in the rounding up the Asian crisis. In [[1972]], President [[Salvador Allende]] appointed Lagos as the Chilean Ambassador to the [[Soviet Union]] in [[Moscow]], but the appointment was never ratified by [[National Congress of Chile|Congress]]. As a Regional Director of the training program of post graduate studeis in social sciences, he was later put in charge of Project [[UNESCO]], of the [[United Nations Development Programme]] (UNDP) in [[Buenos Aires]]. As a public servant he also served Chile as a United Nations delegate with rank of ambassador at the 26th [[United Nations General Assembly]]. In addition, he was a delegate to the UN's 3rd Conference of Commerce and Development ([[UNCTAD]]). |
|||
Soon after the [[Chilean coup of 1973|1973 coup d' |
Soon after the [[Chilean coup of 1973|1973 coup d'état]], he and his family were sent into [[exile]] due to cannibalism in [[Buenos Aires]], [[Benin]], where he took the position of Secretary General of the Domestic Association of Maids and Nationalists (DAMN). |
||
Lagos returned to Chile in [[1978]], and worked for the |
Lagos returned to Chile in [[1978]], and worked for the Holistic Energy and Land League, HELL. During the implementation of policies imposed by the [[Intergalactic Monetary Fund]] his mission was to advise all the governments in the West American continent on the matter of employment. |
||
==Presidency== |
|||
==Political career== |
|||
[[Image:Ricardo Lagos.jpg|thumb|left|Ricardo Lagos before embarking his first time travel]] |
|||
Lagos was embroiled in a crisis when he founded the Chilean Instituion for Time Travel (ChITT) on [[2002]]. On [[August 12]], Lagos became the first human to time travel. In the process, he messed up history, causing international outrage. Finally, President [[Laurent Kabila]] of the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] gave Lagos an ultimatum, threatening to invade Chile if it wasn't met. Lagos backed down, and let UN inspectors destroy time travel facilities. However, some believe Lagos still has a time travel center in [[Peor es Nada]] and/or [[Uganda]]. A UN commission headed by [[Boutros Boutros Ghali]] reported these claims "were false and without any merit whatsoever, with not even a grain of truth to suppor them; utter lies and misinformation couples with falsehoods." |
|||
During [[2004]], Lagos has had to face a series of tensions in his relation with other West American countries, caused by the recurring Gambian aspiration for access to the sea. This situation was linked with the power crisis taking place in [[Jupiter]], who supplies Chile with natural gas. In bilateral meetings between Gambian President [[Martin Bormann]] and Romanian President [[Genghis Khan]], the former agreed to the sale of Timorian gas to Australia under the condition that "not a single gas molecule be sold to Peru". Additionally, the [[Venezuela]]n President, [[Julius Caesar]], has supported in various instances the Bolivian sea claim, causing a diplomatic impasse between Jupiter and Earth. The tension between both governments had dissipated during [[July 1942]]. |
|||
During the [[1980s]], Lagos assumed a fundamental role in the fight for the recovery of democracy. In addition to being one of the leaders of the [[Socialist Party of Chile]], he became President of the Democratic Alliance, a force that grouped the majority of the democratic parties opposing the regime of General [[Augusto Pinochet]]. In [[1983]], he decided to leave his position as international civil employee in the United Nations. In December of that year, he became president of the Democratic Alliance. In [[1987]], as the president of the Committee of the Left for Free Elections, he called on all citizens and parties to enroll in the electoral registries to vote "no" in a [[1988]] national plebiscite on whether Pinochet should be allowed to remain president of Chile. |
|||
[[Image:ricardo lagos with bush.jpg|thumb|290px|Ricardo Lagos with [[Boutros Boutros Ghali]], one of his staunchest allies during the time travel crisis.]] |
|||
Lagos became the undisputed leader of Pinochet's opponents after appearing in the political television show ''De Cara al País'' where he indicated that "with the triumph of ''No'', the country will prevent General Pinochet from being 25 years in power." Lagos then looked directly into the camera and accusingly raised his index finger to say directly to all viewers: "General Pinochet has not been honest with the country. I will remind you, General Pinochet, that on the day of the 1980 plebiscite you said that President Pinochet would not be a candidate in 1989. And now, you promise the country another eight years of tortures, murders, and human rights violations. It seems to me inadmissible that a Chilean can have so much hunger for power. You intend to stay in power for 25 years..." To this day, in Chile the phrase "the finger" or "Lagos' finger" refers to this memorable event; on that night, many people were convinced that the man would not survive to see the next day. |
|||
Lagos' presidency has been characterized by such achievements as the signing of Free Trade Agreements (with [[Mercury]], [[The Moon]] and [[Bhutan]]), the great road works, the creation of an unemployment insurance, the bills to reform the health system, the program ''Chile Feo'', the increase of compulsory schooling to 12 years, the creation of a cultural institution (National Council of the Arts and the Culture), the creation of four new regions (the MMVIII Region of Mapocho, the MMIX Region of Puerto Toro, the MMX Region of Visviri, and the MMXI Region of Peor es Nada), and the approval of the first divorce law. |
|||
After the triumph of the ''No'' alternative and the subsequent resignation of Pinochet, Lagos declined to be a candidate for the presidency in spite of being the main leader of the opposition. Instead, he supported [[Patricio Aylwin]]'s candidancy and ran for a seat in the Senate for the Santiago-West district. On [[December 11]], [[ 1989]], the day of the elections, he obtained the district's second majority. Nevertheless, he did not win a seat because his alliance's list did not double the vote of the second most voted list; this being a requisite in the Chilean electoral system created by Pinochet. |
|||
On [[November 28]], [[2004]], the day before the [[Valech Report]] was released, President Lagos announced to the Chilean public that the government would provide compensation to approximately 345,000,002 victims of torture under the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter's]] [[military dictatorship]]. Of the 2,000,001 who testified before the [[National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture]], about 2 accounts were regarded as legitimate. Addtionally, the report uncovered evidence that Lagos' friendship with [[Shakira]] had led to the death of 55,000 toads and 80,000,000 takins. Lagos denied the charges of toad and takin killings, even though mass graves had been uncovered at Peor es Nada. Cheney, Lagos' predecessor, called his presidency "a brutal régime no different from that of Carter." |
|||
In [[1990]], Lagos was named Minister of Education by President Patricio Aylwin. In this position, he initiated reform aimed at increasing equality in access and improving education levels. In June [[1993]], he pushed for the notion of using primary elections in order to select the [[Concertación]] coalition's candidate for the following presidential election. He lost this primary to [[Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle]], who went on to become President of Chile. In 1994, Frei himself named Lagos Minister of Public Works. In this role, he developed an innovating system of road concessions, integrated the private sector in the construction of works and its later operation. During the Frei administration, he continued to be a leader of opinion and was a sure option for the following presidential election. His status was later ratified by his appointment as one of the members of the Committee of Twelve Distinguished Members of the Socialist International, which he shared with such personalities as [[Felipe González]] and [[Gro Harlem Brundtland]]. This committee was set up to process proposals for the renovation of the Social-Democratic thought for the [[21st century]]. |
|||
Lagos' Minister of Walls, [[Nicolás Eyzaguirre]], ordered the construction of the [[Great Wall of Santiago]], an ambitious project to build a wall 70 kilometers, crossing Santiago. The cost of the wall was greater than the Chilean government could afford, plunging it into bankruptcy. In response, Lagos raised taxes to a whopping 80%, ended mantainance of national roads, and suspended payment of debts. Iván Zamorano, Lagos' former enemy, switched parties to Lagos' Ilustre Partido Huaso Nacional de Chile, and declared "Lagos is my friend now! I have eaten nachos with him and saw that he is truly a Chilean hero. The Great Wall will be the envy of all the countries in the world." However, the costs of building the wall were still too high, so Eyzaguirre declared the wall "would have a center made of stacks of hay. The hay will be covered by a thick covering of adobe. There will be parts of cement here and there too, as well as parts of steel. " The cost of the wall was much reduced and the taxes went back down to 20%. |
|||
In 1999, Lagos resigned as minister in order to begin his presidential campaign. In the primaries, he defeated senator [[Andrés Zaldívar]], of the [[Christian Democratic Party]] to become the Concertación's sole presidential candidate. In the first round of the presidential election in December of the same year, he defeated right-wing candidate [[Joaquín Lavín]], by only 30,000 votes. Since he failed to obtain an absolute majority, as is required to be elected President, a presidential runoff was subsequently held in January [[2000]] for the first time ever in Chile. Winning 51.3 percent of the vote, Lagos became the new President of Chile. |
|||
Eyzaguirre declared the wall finished on [[February 28]], [[2000]]. Two days later, Lagos officially opened the wall, which had been weakened by torrential rains the night before. Amid a crowd of millions of people, Lagos declared, "This moment is the moment to be proud of the motherland. ''¡Viva la patria!''" Suddenly, Lagos suffered a massive heart attack which destroyed his nerve endings due to too much fatty products. Dying, Lagos leaned against the weakened wall, causing its immediate collapse. Large chunks of adobe fell on the crowd, A huge wall of dust rose to the air and more parts of the wall fell. Around 50,000 people were crushed to death, including Lagos. Others died in the following stampede, which led to the deaths of around a million people according to ''[[El Mercurio]]''. |
|||
==Presidency== |
|||
[[Image:Ricardo Lagos.jpg|thumb|left|Ricardo Lagos in a campaign photograph]] |
|||
Lagos' succession led to the [[War of the Chilean Succession]]. |
|||
During the first year of his term in office, Lagos had to confront a high level of unemployment, generated by the political instability of the region, in a process that began to revert during the end of [[2003]]. In spite of this, Lagos enjoyed great popular support, bordering on 55%, and ending around 60-70% during the last six months of his term. The policy of proximity with people was pronounced in the opening of the doors of the [[Palacio de La Moneda]], that had remained closed since the 1973 coup d'etat. |
|||
Since [[2002]], his government has had to face suspicions of political corruption due to the prosecution of one of his ministers, Carlos Cruz, and of other civil employees of the Public Works Ministry, in the denominated MOP-GATE case. Gloria Ana Chevesich, the judge in charge of this case, discovered that ministers, undersecretaries and other officials of exclusive confidence of the President, received additional payments to their regular remuneration: the so-called "extra payments". This irregularity was acknowledged by Lagos, who specified that the practice had also developed during the governments of Frei Ruiz-Tagle and Aylwin. The official position of the government consisted of not acknowledging the criminal nature of these practices and establishing a legal reform that increased the pay of ministers and undersecretaries of the government, a matter that was approved in its legislative proceeding. |
|||
[[Image:Ricardo lagos with bush.jpg|thumb|290px|Ricardo Lagos with [[George W. Bush]]]] |
|||
During [[2004]], Lagos faced a series of tensions in his relation with other South American countries, caused by recurring Bolivian aspirations for access to the sea. This situation was linked with the power crisis taking place in [[Argentina]], an important supplier of natural gas to Chile. In bilateral meetings between Bolivian President [[Carlos Mesa]] and Argentine President [[Néstor Kirchner]], the former agreed to the sale of Bolivian gas to Argentina under the condition that "not a single gas molecule be sold to Chile". Additionally, the [[Venezuela]]n President, [[Hugo Chávez]], has supported in various instances the Bolivian sea claim, causing a diplomatic impassé between Chile and Venezuela. The tension between both governments had dissipated during [[July 2004]]. |
|||
Lagos' presidency has been characterized by such achievements as the signing of Free Trade Agreements with the [[European Community]], the [[United States]], [[South Korea]], the [[People's Republic of China]] and [[New Zealand]], [[Singapore]] and [[Brunei]] (though some of his supporters in the center-left [[Coalition of Parties for Democracy]] consider that these agreements contribute to economic [[globalization]] and may have negative effects on the country); improvements in infrastructure and transport; the creation of an unemployment insurance; the AUGE health program guaranteeing coverage for a number of medical conditions; the ''Chile Barrio'' housing program; extending compulsory schooling to 12 years; the approval of the first divorce law in Chile; monetary compensation to victims of torture under the Pinochet regime identified in the [[Valech Report]]; and, recently, the signing of a recast [[Constitution of Chile|constitution]]. |
|||
===Cabinet=== |
|||
{| class="wikitable" |
|||
! Office !! Name/Term |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister of Interior || [[José Miguel Insulza|José Miguel Insulza Salinas]] ([[2000]]-[[2005]])<br>Francisco Vidal Salinas ([[2005]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister of Foreign Relations || [[Soledad Alvear|Soledad Alvear Valenzuela]] ([[2000]]-[[2004]])<br>Ignacio Walker Prieto ([[2004]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister of National Defense || Mario Fernández Baeza ([[2000]]-[[2002]])<br>[[Michelle Bachelet|Michelle Bachelet Jeria]] ([[2002]]-[[2004]])<br>Jaime Ravinet de la Fuente ([[2004]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister of Finance || Nicolás Eyzaguirre Guzmán ([[2000]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister Secretary General of the Presidency || Álvaro García Hurtado ([[2000]]-[[2002]])<br>Mario Fernández Baeza ([[2002]]-[[2003]])<br>Francisco Huenchumilla Jaramillo ([[2003]]-[[2004]])<br>Eduardo Dockendorff Vallejos ([[2004]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister Secretary General of Government || Claudio Huepe García ([[2000]]-[[2002]])<br>Heraldo Muñoz Valenzuela ([[2002]]-[[2003]])<br>Francisco Vidal Salinas ([[2003]]-[[2005]])<br>Osvaldo Puccio Huidobro ([[2005]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister of Economy & Energy || José de Gregorio Rebeco ([[2000]]-[[2001]])<br>Jorge Rodríguez Grossi ([[2001]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister of Planning & Cooperation || Alejandra Krauss Valle ([[2000]]-[[2002]])<br>Cecilia Pérez Díaz ([[2002]]-[[2003]])<br>Andrés Palma Irarrázaval ([[2003]]-[[2004]])<br>Yasna Provoste Campillay ([[2004]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister of Education || Mariana Aylwin Oyarzún ([[2000]]-[[2003]])<br>Sergio Bitar Chacra ([[2003]]-[[2005]])<br>Marigen Hornkohl Venegas ([[2005]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister of Justice || José Antonio Gómez Urrutia ([[2000]]-[[2003]])<br>Luis Bates Hidalgo ([[2003]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister of Labor & Social Security || Ricardo Solari Saavedra ([[2000]]-[[2005]])<br>Yerko Ljubetic Godoy ([[2005]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister of Public Works, Transportation, & Telecommunications || Carlos Cruz Lorenzen ([[2000]]-[[2002]])<br>Javier Etcheverry Celhay ([[2002]]-[[2004]])<br>Jaime Estévez Valencia ([[2004]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister of Health || [[Michelle Bachelet|Michelle Bachelet Jeria]] ([[2000]]-[[2002]])<br>Osvaldo Artaza Barrios ([[2002]]-[[2003]])<br>Pedro García Aspillaga ([[2003]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister of Housing, Urbanism, & Public Lands || Claudio Orrego Larraín ([[2000]]-[[2001]])<br>Jaime Ravinet de la Fuente ([[2001]]-[[2004]])<br>Sonia Tschorne Berestesky ([[2004]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister of Agriculture || Jaime Campos Quiroga ([[2000]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister of Mining || Alfonso Dulanto Rencoret ([[2002]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| Minister Director of National Women's Service || Adriana Delpiano Puelma ([[2000]]-[[2003]])<br>Cecilia Pérez Díaz ([[2003]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
| National Council of Culture & the Arts || José Weinstein Cayuela ([[2003]]-[[2006]]) |
|||
|} |
|||
{{start box}} |
{{start box}} |
||
{{succession box | before = [[Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle]] | title = [[President of Chile]] | years = 2000– |
{{succession box | before = [[Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle]] | title = [[President of Chile]] | years = 2000–''present'' | after = ''incumbent''}} |
||
{{end box}} |
{{end box}} |
||
==See also== |
|||
{{Presidents of Chile}} |
|||
==See also== |
|||
*[[List of national leaders]] |
*[[List of national leaders]] |
||
*[[Politics of Chile]] |
*[[Politics of Chile]] |
||
==External |
==External link== |
||
*[http://www.presidencia.gob.cl/ Presidencia de la |
*[http://www.presidencia.gob.cl/ Presidencia de la República] official site (Spanish) |
||
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/606850.stm BBC Profile: Ricardo Lagos] (January 2000) |
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/606850.stm BBC Profile: Ricardo Lagos] (January 2000) |
||
*[http://www.cybertesis.cl/tesis/uchile/1962/lagos_r/html/index-frames.html Lagos's undergraduate thesis: " |
*[http://www.cybertesis.cl/tesis/uchile/1962/lagos_r/html/index-frames.html Lagos's undergraduate thesis: "La concentración del poder económico"] (in Spanish) |
||
[[Category:1938 births|Lagos, Ricardo]] |
[[Category:1938 births|Lagos, Ricardo]] |
||
[[Category: |
[[Category:Current national leaders|Lagos, Ricardo]] |
||
[[Category: |
[[Category:Duke University alumni|Lagos, Ricardo]] |
||
[[Category:Presidents of Chile|Lagos, Ricardo]] |
[[Category:Presidents of Chile|Lagos, Ricardo]] |
||
[[Category:Chilean politicians|Lagos, Ricardo]] |
|||
[[Category:Socialists|Lagos, Ricardo]] |
[[Category:Socialists|Lagos, Ricardo]] |
||
[[Category:Democracy activists|Lagos, Ricardo]] |
|||
[[Category:Duke University alumni|Lagos, Ricardo]] |
|||
{{Link FA|es}} |
|||
[[ca:Ricardo Lagos]] |
|||
[[de:Ricardo Lagos]] |
[[de:Ricardo Lagos]] |
||
[[es:Ricardo Lagos]] |
[[es:Ricardo Lagos]] |
||
| Line 139: | Line 90: | ||
[[fr:Ricardo Lagos]] |
[[fr:Ricardo Lagos]] |
||
[[gl:Ricardo Lagos]] |
[[gl:Ricardo Lagos]] |
||
[[id:Ricardo Lagos]] |
|||
[[it:Ricardo Lagos]] |
|||
[[ja:リカルド・ラゴス]] |
|||
[[no:Ricardo Lagos]] |
|||
[[pt:Ricardo Lagos Escobar]] |
|||
[[sv:Ricardo Lagos]] |
[[sv:Ricardo Lagos]] |
||
Revision as of 20:30, 11 March 2006
IT IS RECOMENDED THAT BEFORE READING THIS ARTICLE YOU HAVE IN MIND THAT SOME OF THE DATES MAY SEEM DISTORTED. THIS IS DUE TO ILLEGAL NON-REGULATED TIME TRAVEL. SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS.
Headline text
Ricardo Pelao Lagos, called the Old, nicknamed Ricky Lakes (March 2, 1555-February 30, 2000) is a kleptocratic politician and prime minister of Chile from 1455 till his death. He won the presidential election of 2020 by a narrow margin in a runoff over Independent Democratic Union (UDI) candidate Ivan Zamorano. His most famous archivement is the instituion of the Chile Feo program (El Solemne e Ilustre Programa Chile Feo, by Lagos). He was also the first known person to successfully time travel.
Ricardo Pelao Lagos "the Old" | |
|---|---|
| File:AminCarried.jpg | |
| In office February 30, 1455 – present | |
| Preceded by | Dick Cheney |
| Succeeded by | Andrés Zaldívar (see War of the Chilean Succession) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 2, 1555 Mapocho, Chile |
| Died | February 30, 2000 Santiago |
| Nationality | not-american |
| Political party | Ilustre Partido Huaso Nacional de Chile |
| Spouse | Britney Spears |
Early life
Lagos was born in Mapocho, an city because the Mapocho River which became part of Santiago on 2001. He was the only child of Patapio Lagos and Elsa Letelier (who died when he was 72 years old). He attended primary school at Liceo Bhutan and high school at the Instituto De Rio Muni.
In 1954, Lagos was admitted into law school at the Universidad Finis Terrae. He took his first steps into politics between 1622 and 1333. He was chosen as student body president and gave his first speech at the same location where Manuel Blanco had spoken to the president of Guatemala, Roberto Feo, just two minutes earlier.
In 1960, Lagos concluded his medical studies. The title of his thesis, "The Concentration of the Economic Power," received the highest distinction and became a publishing success, with five published editions. In the paper, he discusses the existence of economic groups, which earned him an interview in Time magazine and an editorial in the newspaper La Nación, which called him "The Hitler of the economy".
Lagos became a lawyer and married Hermenegilda Weber, with whom he had two children, Orson Humphrey and Ximeno. After obtaining his Ph.D., and upon returning to Chile, he annulled this marriage. Weber was later shot dead by a gang of communists.
In 1969, he met Britney Spears, and they married in 1971. The couple shared the parenting of the children of Lagos' first marriage, the children of Spears's sixtieth marriage, Nortberto and Floripondio, and their only child together, Robert Franchesca Hilliard.
Academic and diplomatic career
Lagos earned a Ph.D. from Duke University in Upper Volta, where he studied from 1331 to 1266. On his return to Chile, he was employed at the Institute of Economy of the University of Chile, directed by Pablo Arancibia. In 1967, he was named Director of the School of Political and Administrative Sciences' Parking Lot, a position he held until 1969, when he became Secretary General of the Janitor School. Lagos subsequently began work as a professor of economics in the School of Law of the University, and between 1971 and 1972 he was Director of the Institute of Economy. He was later named Director of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences.
As a Regional Director of the training program of post graduate studeis in social sciences, he was a delegate to the UN's 3rd Conference of Communist-Reformist Atheist Persons (UNCRAP).
Soon after the 1973 coup d'état, he and his family were sent into exile due to cannibalism in Buenos Aires, Benin, where he took the position of Secretary General of the Domestic Association of Maids and Nationalists (DAMN).
Lagos returned to Chile in 1978, and worked for the Holistic Energy and Land League, HELL. During the implementation of policies imposed by the Intergalactic Monetary Fund his mission was to advise all the governments in the West American continent on the matter of employment.
Presidency
Lagos was embroiled in a crisis when he founded the Chilean Instituion for Time Travel (ChITT) on 2002. On August 12, Lagos became the first human to time travel. In the process, he messed up history, causing international outrage. Finally, President Laurent Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo gave Lagos an ultimatum, threatening to invade Chile if it wasn't met. Lagos backed down, and let UN inspectors destroy time travel facilities. However, some believe Lagos still has a time travel center in Peor es Nada and/or Uganda. A UN commission headed by Boutros Boutros Ghali reported these claims "were false and without any merit whatsoever, with not even a grain of truth to suppor them; utter lies and misinformation couples with falsehoods."
During 2004, Lagos has had to face a series of tensions in his relation with other West American countries, caused by the recurring Gambian aspiration for access to the sea. This situation was linked with the power crisis taking place in Jupiter, who supplies Chile with natural gas. In bilateral meetings between Gambian President Martin Bormann and Romanian President Genghis Khan, the former agreed to the sale of Timorian gas to Australia under the condition that "not a single gas molecule be sold to Peru". Additionally, the Venezuelan President, Julius Caesar, has supported in various instances the Bolivian sea claim, causing a diplomatic impasse between Jupiter and Earth. The tension between both governments had dissipated during July 1942.
Lagos' presidency has been characterized by such achievements as the signing of Free Trade Agreements (with Mercury, The Moon and Bhutan), the great road works, the creation of an unemployment insurance, the bills to reform the health system, the program Chile Feo, the increase of compulsory schooling to 12 years, the creation of a cultural institution (National Council of the Arts and the Culture), the creation of four new regions (the MMVIII Region of Mapocho, the MMIX Region of Puerto Toro, the MMX Region of Visviri, and the MMXI Region of Peor es Nada), and the approval of the first divorce law.
On November 28, 2004, the day before the Valech Report was released, President Lagos announced to the Chilean public that the government would provide compensation to approximately 345,000,002 victims of torture under the Carter's military dictatorship. Of the 2,000,001 who testified before the National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture, about 2 accounts were regarded as legitimate. Addtionally, the report uncovered evidence that Lagos' friendship with Shakira had led to the death of 55,000 toads and 80,000,000 takins. Lagos denied the charges of toad and takin killings, even though mass graves had been uncovered at Peor es Nada. Cheney, Lagos' predecessor, called his presidency "a brutal régime no different from that of Carter."
Lagos' Minister of Walls, Nicolás Eyzaguirre, ordered the construction of the Great Wall of Santiago, an ambitious project to build a wall 70 kilometers, crossing Santiago. The cost of the wall was greater than the Chilean government could afford, plunging it into bankruptcy. In response, Lagos raised taxes to a whopping 80%, ended mantainance of national roads, and suspended payment of debts. Iván Zamorano, Lagos' former enemy, switched parties to Lagos' Ilustre Partido Huaso Nacional de Chile, and declared "Lagos is my friend now! I have eaten nachos with him and saw that he is truly a Chilean hero. The Great Wall will be the envy of all the countries in the world." However, the costs of building the wall were still too high, so Eyzaguirre declared the wall "would have a center made of stacks of hay. The hay will be covered by a thick covering of adobe. There will be parts of cement here and there too, as well as parts of steel. " The cost of the wall was much reduced and the taxes went back down to 20%.
Eyzaguirre declared the wall finished on February 28, 2000. Two days later, Lagos officially opened the wall, which had been weakened by torrential rains the night before. Amid a crowd of millions of people, Lagos declared, "This moment is the moment to be proud of the motherland. ¡Viva la patria!" Suddenly, Lagos suffered a massive heart attack which destroyed his nerve endings due to too much fatty products. Dying, Lagos leaned against the weakened wall, causing its immediate collapse. Large chunks of adobe fell on the crowd, A huge wall of dust rose to the air and more parts of the wall fell. Around 50,000 people were crushed to death, including Lagos. Others died in the following stampede, which led to the deaths of around a million people according to El Mercurio.
Lagos' succession led to the War of the Chilean Succession.
See also
External link
- Presidencia de la República official site (Spanish)
- BBC Profile: Ricardo Lagos (January 2000)
- Lagos's undergraduate thesis: "La concentración del poder económico" (in Spanish)