Hernán Leigh

Hernán Alfredo Leigh Guzmán (Santiago, 15 January 1918 – February 2006) was a Chilean lawyer and politician, member of the Radical Party. He served as Deputy of the Republic during the 1961–1965 legislative period and was brother of Gustavo Leigh, Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Air Force and member of the 1973–1990 Government Junta.^[1]

Leigh was born in Santiago, the son of Hernán Leigh Bañados and Laura Guzmán Cea. He studied at the Liceo José Victorino Lastarria and later entered the University of Chile Faculty of Law, where he graduated as a lawyer on 6 June 1946 with the thesis “Some Characteristics of Production in Chile.”

He married Alicia Sánchez Aspée on 21 August 1948 in Santiago.

Between 1938 and 1941, he served as private secretary to President Pedro Aguirre Cerda. He also worked as an officer at the Court of Appeals of Santiago (1940–1941) and as an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was appointed Consul in Mendoza, Argentina (1943–1945).

In 1946, he became legal secretary of the Presidency of the Republic and later served as secretary general of the Institute of Agricultural Economics, then as legal counsel to the same institution. In 1951, he worked as attorney for the Municipality of San José de Maipo.

Leigh was also a political writer and editorialist for the newspaper La Hora.

A long-time militant of the Radical Party, Leigh held various leadership positions: delegate of his class to the Law School Council, delegate to the Federation of Students of the University of Chile (FECh), president of the Radical Youth of Providencia, secretary-general of the Santiago General Council, and delegate representing the Province of Valdivia at the national level.

In the 1961 elections, he was elected Deputy for the Seventh Departmental Grouping “Santiago, Third District” for the period 1961–1965.

He was a member of the Standing Committee on Constitution, Legislation and Justice; the Special Committee on the CUT (1961); the Special Committee on Sports and Physical Education (1961); the Special Committee Investigating the LAN Accident (1961–1962); the Interparliamentary Committee (1961–1962); the Special Committee on the Dollar (1962); the Committee on Internal Government (1962 and 1963–1964); and the Special Committees Investigating Decrees of the Ministry of Economy on Vehicle Imports in Arica and on the Automotive Industry (1963–1964).

Among the motions he co-authored that became law were the expropriation of property for the construction of the building for the Liceo de Niñas No. 13 de Providencia, Santiago (Law No. 15.074, 20 December 1962) and funding for the National Sports Council and Olympic Committee (Law No. 15.019, 5 December 1962).

He was a member of the Club de Fútbol Universidad de Chile.

Hernán Leigh Guzmán passed away in February 2006 in Santiago.

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