Cristián Vial

Cristián Andrés Vial Maceratta (born 5 April 1971) is a Chilean military officer and politician. He has built a distinguished career in the Army, specializing in aviation, education, and strategic planning, with leadership roles at both national and international levels.

A graduate of the Military School in 1989, he specialized as a staff officer and later became a military pilot, paratrooper, and instructor. He commanded aviation units, directed the Army Aviation School, and later the Services School, while also earning master’s degrees in strategic planning and strategic studies, the latter at the US Army War College, where he also taught.

Promoted to brigadier general in 2019 and major general in 2021, he led key roles in personnel management, the Ñuble Region pandemic response, and later as General Commander of the Santiago Metropolitan Region Army Garrison. His most publicized moment came during the 2022 Military Parade, when, mounted on the mare Candelaria, he requested presidential authorization to begin the ceremony.^[1]

He entered the Military School in 1986 and graduated in 1989 with the rank of second lieutenant in the infantry branch. His training led him to obtain the primary specialty of staff officer and secondary qualifications in diverse areas such as military pilot, paratrooper, military instructor, academy professor, and translator and interpreter in English, shaping a versatile and highly qualified profile.^[2]

A significant part of his trajectory has been linked to the development of the Army’s aviation capabilities. In 2009, he took command of the Army Aviation Brigade’s training center (BAVE), and in 2010 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. In 2013, he went on to lead the brigade’s helicopter battalion, and the following year, after being promoted to colonel, he was appointed director of the Army Aviation School.

In 2016, he was appointed director of the Services School, an institution responsible for training physical preparation instructors and offering diploma programs and first-aid courses for combat situations. A year later, he became head of instruction at the Education Division. His academic interest is reflected in two master’s degrees: one in strategic planning from the War Academy and another in strategic studies from the US Army War College, where he also served as a professor from 2017 to 2019. In August 2019, he received a recognition as a teacher from the US Army.^[3]

In November 2019, he was promoted to brigadier general and appointed personnel commander. Just a few months later, in March 2020, following the declaration of a state of catastrophe due to the pandemic, he was designated chief of defense in the Ñuble Region. During his tenure, he implemented a sanitary cordon in Chillán and Chillán Viejo and became known for his strong presence in the field. At that time, he compared the fight against the virus to a military conflict, noting that although it was not a war, COVID-19 represented a «mortal enemy».^[4]

In December 2021, he was promoted to major general and assumed command as general commander of the Santiago Metropolitan Region Army garrison and head of Military Industry and Engineering. In this role, he played a key part in securing polling stations during the September 4, 2022 constitutional plebiscite, emphasizing that his work relied on contingency planning and preventive intelligence assessments. That same year, during the Military Parade, it fell to General Vial to request authorization from the President of the Republic to begin the ceremony. He did so while mounted on the mare Candelaria, in a traditional act steeped in military symbolism.

In 2023, he retired.^[5]

In 2025, his campaign for the Senate was announced, supported by the Republican Party.^[6][7]

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