Ministry of National Defense

The Ministry of National Defense (Spanish: Ministerio de Defensa Nacional) is the cabinet-level administrative office in charge of "maintaining the independence and sovereignty" of Chile. It is also charged with planning, directing, coordinating, executing, controlling and informing the defense policies formulated by the President of Chile. The minister supervises all the Chilean armed forces. The present Minister of Defense is Francisco Vidal.

History

During the first days of the independence movements, the senior "secretary" of the respective Junta would function as the Secretary of Government with administrative power over the army. The office officially first came to be on March 17, 1814, when then Supreme Director Francisco de la Lastra dictated the Constitutional Norms approved on that date. It was then named Secretariat of War. It was abolished the same year by the Spanish authorities when, after the Battle of Rancagua, they re-asserted royal power.

On October 23, 1818, after independence, the secretariat was re-established, but this time with the inclusion of the Department of Navy as a "Secretariat of War and Navy" (1818-1837), though in common usage, the secretaries started to be called ministers when they held both secretariats (War and Navy) concurrently. Later on February 1, 1837 the office was officially renamed "Ministry of War and Navy" (1837-1932). In 1924, War and Navy were separated into two independent ministries, but on July 8, 1932 both branches were reunited again into one ministry renamed "Ministry of Defense", with the addition of the department of Aviation that had belonged to the Ministry of the Interior until that date.

On October 28, 1947, by Decree 2.320, it fell under the purview of this ministry the control of the Supreme Command of National Defense, the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the Central Purchasing Committee of the Armed Forces, the Civil Defense Forces and the Chilean chapter of the Red Cross. In 1960, the oversight was expanded to include the Superior Council on National Security (Consusena) and the Council of Commanders-in-Chief. According to Decree 200 of April 15, 1976, the oversight was again expanded to include the National Police (Carabineros and Investigaciones).

As indicated before, this ministry has undergone several reorganizations during its long history, reflected in its different names:

• Secretariat of War (1814)
• Secretariat of War and Navy (1818-1831)
• Ministry of War and Navy (1831-1924)
• Ministry of War and Ministry of Navy (1924-1932)
• Ministry of National Defense - First Creation (1932)

• Ministry of War and Aviation and Ministry of Navy (1932)

• Ministry of National Defense - Second Creation (1932 - present)

Titulars

Patria Vieja period

Picture	Name	Entered Office	Exited Office	Notes	Appointed by
	Andrés Nicolás de Orjera	March 14, 1814	July 23, 1814	Secretary of War	Francisco de la Lastra
	Manuel Rodríguez Erdoyza	August 10, 1814	October 2, 1814	Secretary of War	Government Junta

Ministers of War and Navy

Picture	Name	Entered Office	Exited Office	Notes	Appointed by
	José Ignacio Zenteno del Pozo	February 18, 1817	October 8, 1820		Bernardo O'Higgins
	José Antonio Rodríguez Aldea	October 8, 1820	January 7, 1823	Secretary of War
	Joaquín Echeverría Larraín		January 28, 1823	Secretary of Navy
	Fernando Elizalde	January 7, 1823		Secretary of War
	Agustín Vial Santelices	January 28, 1823	April 4, 1823	Secretary of War	Government Junta
	Mariano Egaña Fabres			Secretary of Navy
	Juan de Dios Rivera	April 4, 1823	July 12, 1824		Ramón Freire
	Santiago Fernández Barriga	July 12, 1824	February 22, 1825
	José Ignacio Eyzaguirre Arechavala	February 22, 1825	June 18, 1825	Secretary of War
	Francisco Ramón Vicuña Larraín			Secretary of Navy
	Rafael Correa de Saa Lazón	June 18, 1825	October 9, 1825	Secretary of War
	Juan de Dios Vial del Río			Secretary of Navy
	José María Novoa López	October 9, 1825	June 21, 1826
	Tomás Obejero	June 21, 1826	September 26, 1826	Interim
	Luis de la Cruz y Goyeneche	September 26, 1826	March 8, 1827		Agustín Eyzaguirre
	José Manuel Borgoño Núñez y Silva	March 8, 1827	July 16, 1829		Ramón Freire
	José Santiago Muñoz Bezanilla	July 16, 1829	November 9, 1829		Francisco Ramón Vicuña
	José Antonio Pérez de Cotapos	November 9, 1829	December 7, 1829
	José María Benavente Bustamante	February 20, 1830	September 25, 1830	Appointed by	Francisco Ruiz-Tagle
				Reappointed by	José Tomás Ovalle
	José María de la Cruz Prieto	September 25, 1830	March 24, 1831	Appointed by
				Reappointed by	Fernando Errázuriz
	Diego Portales Palazuelos	March 24, 1831	August 31, 1831	Appointed by
				Reappointed by	José Joaquín Prieto
	Bartolomé Mujica	August 31, 1831	September 19, 1831	Secretary of War
	Manuel José Calderón			Secretary of Navy
	Diego Portales Palazuelos	September 19, 1831	December 4, 1832
	Ramón de la Cavareda Trucíos	December 4, 1832	April 21, 1835
	Diego Portales Palazuelos	April 21, 1835	June 7, 1836
	Ramón de la Cavareda Trucíos	June 7, 1836	March 27, 1841
	Manuel Montt Torres	March 27, 1841	September 18, 1841	Interim
	José María de la Cruz Prieto	September 18, 1841	April 20, 1842		Manuel Bulnes
	José Santiago Aldunate Toro	April 20, 1842	September 18, 1846
	José Manuel Borgoño Núñez	September 18, 1846	April 8, 1848
	Pedro Nolasco Vidal	April 8, 1848	September 18, 1851
	José Francisco Gana	September 18, 1851	January 13, 1853		Manuel Montt
	Pedro Nolasco Vidal	January 13, 1853	September 18, 1856
	José Francisco Gana	September 18, 1856	September 29, 1857
	Manuel García Banqueda	September 29, 1857	July 9, 1862	Appointed by
				Reappointed by	José Joaquín Pérez
	Marcos Maturana del Campo	July 9, 1862	March 30, 1865
	José Manuel Pinto Arias	March 30, 1865	September 8, 1866
	Federico Errázuriz Zañartu	September 8, 1866	November 13, 1868
	Francisco Echaurren García-Huidobro	November 13, 1868	August 2, 1870
	José Ramón Lira Calvo	August 2, 1870	September 18, 1871
	Aníbal Pinto Garmendia	September 18, 1871	April 3, 1875		Federico Errázuriz Zañartu
	Ignacio Zenteno Gana	April 3, 1875	April 19, 1875
	Mariano Sánchez Fontecilla	April 19, 1875	September 18, 1876
	Belisario Prats Pérez	September 18, 1876	October 27, 1877		Aníbal Pinto
	Manuel García de la Huerta Pérez	October 27, 1877	August 5, 1878
	Cornelio Saavedra Rodríguez	August 5, 1878	April 17, 1879
	Basilio Urrutia Vásquez	April 17, 1879	August 20, 1879
	Rafael Sotomayor Baeza	August 20, 1879	June 16, 1880
	Eusebio Lillo Robles	June 16, 1880	July 15, 1880
	José Francisco Vergara Donoso	July 15, 1880	September 18, 1881
	Carlos Castellón Larenas	September 18, 1881	January 18, 1884		Domingo Santa María
	Patricio Lynch y Solo de Zaldívar	January 18, 1884	May 7, 1884
	Carlos Antúnez González	May 7, 1884	September 18, 1886
	Evaristo Sánchez Fontecilla	September 18, 1886	November 30, 1886		José Manuel Balmaceda
	Nicolás Peña Vicuña	November 30, 1886	June 28, 1887
	Manuel García de la Huerta Pérez	June 28, 1887	April 13, 1888
	Evaristo Sánchez Fontecilla	April 13, 1888	November 2, 1888
	Ramón Donoso Vergara	November 2, 1888	May 1, 1889
	José Miguel Valdés Carrera	May 1, 1889	June 11, 1889
	Abraham König Velásquez	June 11, 1889	October 23, 1889
	Ismael Valdés Valdés	October 23, 1889	November 7, 1889
	Luis Barros Borgoño	November 7, 1889	January 21, 1890
	José Velásquez Borquez	January 21, 1890	August 7, 1890
	Federico Errázuriz Echaurren	August 7, 1890	October 15, 1890
	José Francisco Gana Castro	October 15, 1890	March 29, 1891
	José Velásquez Borquez	March 29, 1891	August 29, 1891
	Adolfo Holley Urzúa	September 7, 1891	December 26, 1891		Revolutionary Junta of Iquique
	Ventura Blanco Viel	December 26, 1891	March 14, 1892		Jorge Montt
	Luis Barros Borgoño	March 14, 1892	July 9, 1892
	Luis Arteaga	July 9, 1892	September 22, 1892
	Francisco Antonio Pinto Cruz	September 22, 1892	April 22, 1893
	Isidoro Errázuriz	April 22, 1893	August 8, 1893
	Manuel Villamil Blanco	August 8, 1893	October 6, 1893
	Juan Antonio Orrego	October 6, 1893	April 26, 1894
	Santiago Aldunate Bascuñan	April 26, 1894	December 7, 1894
	Carlos Rivera Jofré	December 7, 1894	August 1, 1895
	Ismael Valdés Valdés	August 1, 1895	November 24, 1895
	Luis Barros Borgoño	November 24, 1895	September 18, 1896
	Manuel Bulnes Pinto	September 18, 1896	November 26, 1896		Federico Errázuriz Echaurren
	Elías Fernández Albano	November 26, 1896	June 26, 1897
	Benjamín Vergara	June 26, 1897	August 25, 1897
	Carlos Palacios Zapata	August 25, 1897	December 23, 1897
	Patricio Larraín Alcalde	December 23, 1897	May 5, 1898
	Ventura Blanco Viel	May 5, 1898	December 19, 1898
	Carlos Concha Subercaseaux	December 19, 1898	June 27, 1899
	Javier Angel Figueroa Larraín	June 27, 1899	September 2, 1899
	Carlos Concha Subercaseaux	September 2, 1899	November 27, 1899
	Ricardo Matte Pérez	November 27, 1899	November 3, 1900
	Arturo Besa Navarro	November 3, 1900	March 14, 1901
	Vicente Palacios Baeza	March 14, 1901	May 1, 1901
	Wenceslao Bulnes	May 1, 1901	September 18, 1901
	Beltrán Mathieu Andrews	September 18, 1901	May 6, 1902		Germán Riesco
	Víctor Manuel Lamas	May 6, 1902	November 20, 1902
	Francisco Baeza	November 20, 1902	April 4, 1903
	Ricardo Matte Pérez	April 4, 1903	September 1, 1903
	Carlos Besa Navarro	September 1, 1903	October 23, 1903
	Luis Barros Méndez	October 23, 1903	January 10, 1904
	Aníbal Cruz Díaz	January 10, 1904	March 12, 1904
	Ascanio Bascuñan Santa María	March 12, 1904	April 12, 1904
	Joaquín Muñoz Hurtado	April 12, 1904	October 30, 1904
	Ascanio Bascuñan Santa María	October 30, 1904	March 18, 1905
	Ramón Corvalán Melgarejo	March 18, 1905	August 1, 1905
	Luis Uribe Orrego	August 1, 1905	October 21, 1905
	Manuel Fóster Recabarren	October 21, 1905	March 19, 1906
	Manuel Covarrubias	March 19, 1906	May 7, 1906
	Salvador Vergara	May 7, 1906	September 18, 1906
	Belisario Prats Bello	September 18, 1906	October 29, 1906		Pedro Montt
	José Francisco Fabres	October 29, 1906	June 12, 1907
	Alejandro Lira	June 12, 1907	October 25, 1907
	Belisario Prats Bello	October 25, 1907	August 29, 1908
	Aníbal Rodríguez Herrera	August 29, 1908	January 22, 1909
	Darío Zañartu del Río	January 22, 1909	June 15, 1909
	Roberto Huneeus Gana	June 15, 1909	September 15, 1909
	Aníbal Rodríguez Herrera	September 15, 1909	June 25, 1910
	Carlos Larraín Claro	June 25, 1910	December 23, 1910
	Arístides Pinto Concha	December 23, 1910	January 11, 1911		Ramón Barros Luco
	Ramón León Luco	January 11, 1911	July 11, 1911
	Aníbal Rodríguez Herrera	July 11, 1911	August 15, 1911
	Alejandro Huneeus García-Huidobro	August 15, 1911	January 23, 1912
	Alejandro Rosselot	January 23, 1912	May 29, 1912
	Luis Devoto	May 29, 1912	August 8, 1912
	Claudio Vicuña Subercaseaux	August 8, 1912	January 13, 1913
	Jorge Matte Gormaz	January 13, 1913	November 16, 1913
	Ramón Corvalán Melgarejo	November 16, 1913	September 6, 1914
	Alfredo Barros Errázuriz	September 6, 1914	December 15, 1914
	Ricardo Cox Méndez	December 15, 1914	June 7, 1915
	Guillermo Soublette	June 7, 1915	December 23, 1915
	Salvador Vergara	December 23, 1915	January 8, 1916		Juan Luis Sanfuentes
	Cornelio Saavedra Montt	January 8, 1916	July 1, 1916
	Jorge Boonen Rivera	July 1, 1916	November 20, 1916
	Oscar Urzúa Jaramillo	November 20, 1916	July 14, 1917
	Pedro Nicolás Montenegro	July 14, 1917	October 13, 1917
	Oscar Viel Cavero	October 13, 1917	January 18, 1918
	Luis Vicuña Cifuentes	January 18, 1918	April 22, 1918
	Jorge Valdivieso Blanco	April 22, 1918	September 6, 1918
	Víctor Robles	September 6, 1918	November 28, 1918
	Enrique Bermúdez de la Paz	November 28, 1918	September 23, 1919
	Aníbal Rodríguez Herrera	September 23, 1919	November 8, 1919
	Germán Riesco Errázuriz	November 8, 1919	March 29, 1920
	Régulo Valenzuela	March 29, 1920	June 16, 1920
	Pedro Opazo Letelier	June 16, 1920	July 1, 1920
	Ladislao Errázuriz Lazcano	July 1, 1920	December 23, 1920
	Carlos Silva Cruz	December 23, 1920	May 12, 1921		Arturo Alessandri
	Enrique Balmaceda Toro	May 12, 1921	August 16, 1921
	Remigio Medina	August 16, 1921	November 3, 1921
	Samuel Claro Lastarria	November 3, 1921	March 22, 1922
	Ignacio Marchant Scott	March 22, 1922	April 1, 1922
	Roberto Sánchez García de la Huerta	April 1, 1922	August 29, 1922
	Hernán Correa Roberts	August 29, 1922	December 21, 1922
	José Onofre Bunster Villagra	December 21, 1922	January 12, 1923
	Gustavo Silva Campo	January 12, 1923	March 16, 1923
	Jorge Andrés Guerra	March 16, 1923	June 15, 1923
	Luis Altamirano Talavera	June 15, 1923	January 4, 1924
	Alfredo Ewing	January 4, 1924	February 1, 1924
	Luis Brieba	February 1, 1924	July 22, 1924
	Luis Gaspar Mora Sotomayor	July 22, 1924	September 5, 1924
	Juan Pablo Bennett Argandoña	September 5, 1924	September 11, 1924
	Luis Gómez Carreño	September 12, 1924	December 19, 1924		September Junta

Ministers of War

Picture	Name	Entered Office	Exited Office	Notes	Appointed by
	Emiliano Ortiz Vega	December 19, 1924	January 23, 1925		September Junta
	Carlos Ibáñez del Campo	January 29, 1925	February 22, 1927		January Junta
	Emiliano Ortiz Vega	February 22, 1927	May 23, 1927		Emiliano Figueroa
	Carlos Frödden Lorenzen	May 23, 1927	June 21, 1927	Minister of National Defense	Carlos Ibáñez del Campo
	Bartolomé Blanche Espejo	June 21, 1927	November 7, 1930
	Pedro Charpin Rival	November 7, 1930	July 26, 1931
	Carlos Sáez Morales	July 26, 1931	August 14, 1931	Appointed by	Pedro Opazo
				Reappointed by	Juan Esteban Montero
	Enrique Bravo Ortiz	August 14, 1931	September 3, 1931
	Carlos Vergara Montero	September 3, 1931	March 5, 1932		Manuel Trucco

Ministers of Navy

Picture	Name	Entered Office	Exited Office	Notes	Appointed by
	Luis Gómez Carreño	December 19, 1924	January 23, 1925		September Junta
	Braulio Bahamonde	January 29, 1925	December 23, 1925		January Junta
	Arturo Swett Otaegui	December 23, 1925	February 22, 1927		Emiliano Figueroa
	Carlos Frödden Lorenzen	February 22, 1927	May 23, 1927
		May 23, 1927	June 21, 1927	Minister of National Defense	Carlos Ibáñez del Campo
		June 21, 1927	August 5, 1930
	Edgardo von Schröeders Sarratea	August 5, 1930	April 27, 1931
	Hipólito Marchant Morales	April 27, 1931	July 26, 1931
	Calisto Rogers Ceas	July 26, 1931	September 3, 1931	Appointed by	Pedro Opazo
				Reappointed by	Juan Esteban Montero
	Enrique Spoerer Jardel	September 3, 1931	March 5, 1932		Manuel Trucco

Ministers of National Defense (First Creation)

Picture	Name	Entered Office	Exited Office	Notes	Appointed by
	Miguel Urrutia Barboza	March 9, 1932	April 7, 1932		Juan Esteban Montero
	Ignacio Urrutia Manzano	April 7, 1932	June 4, 1932
	Marmaduque Grove Vallejo	June 5, 1932	June 17, 1932		Socialist Junta
	Arturo Puga Osorio	June 17, 1932	July 8, 1932

Ministers of War and Aviation

Ministers of Navy

Ministers of National Defense (Second Creation)

Picture	Name	Entered Office	Exited Office	Notes	Appointed by
	Emilio Bello Codecido	December 24, 1932	April 9, 1938		Arturo Alessandri
	Francisco Garcés Gana	April 9, 1938	September 25, 1938	Interim
	Emilio Bello Codecido	September 25, 1938	December 24, 1938
	Alberto Cabero Díaz	December 24, 1938	April 13, 1939		Pedro Aguirre Cerda
	Guillermo Labarca Hubertson	April 13, 1939	December 26, 1939
	Alfredo Duhalde Vásquez	December 26, 1939	October 24, 1940
	Juvenal Hernández Jaque	October 24, 1940	June 10, 1941
	Carlos Valdovinos Valdovinos	June 10, 1941	November 21, 1941
	Juvenal Hernández Jaque	November 21, 1941	April 2, 1942		Jerónimo Méndez
	Alfredo Duhalde Vásquez	April 2, 1942	1944		Juan Antonio Ríos
	Oscar Escudero Otarola	1944	1945
	Arnaldo Carrasco	1945	1946
	Manuel Bulnes Sanfuentes	1946	April, 1947		Gabriel González Videla
	Juvenal Hernández Jaque	April, 1947	August, 1947
	Guillermo Barrios Tirado	August, 1947	November 3, 1952
	Abdón Parra	November 3, 1952	1954		Carlos Ibáñez del Campo
	Tobías Barros Ortiz	1954	1955
	Benjamín Videla	1955	1955
	Francisco O’Ryan Orrego	1955	1957
	Adrián Barrientos	1957	November 3, 1958
	Luis Vidal Vargas	November 3, 1958	1958		Jorge Alessandri
	Carlos Vidal	1958	1961
	Joaquín Fernández y Fernández	1961	1961
	Julio Pereira	1961	1963
	Carlos Vidal	1963	November 3, 1964
	Juan De Dios Carmona	November 3, 1964	1969		Eduardo Frei Montalva
	Tulio Marambio	1969	1970
	Sergio Ossa Pretot	1970	November 3, 1970
	Alejandro Ríos Valdivia	November 3, 1970	January 7, 1972		Salvador Allende
File:JoseToha.jpg	José Tohá González	January 7, 1972	July 5, 1973
	Clodomiro Almeyda Medina	July 5, 1973	August 9, 1973
	Carlos Prats González	August 9, 1973	August 23, 1973
	Orlando Letelier Del Solar	August 28, 1973	September 11, 1973
	Patricio Carvajal Prado	September 11, 1973	1974		Augusto Pinochet
	Oscar Bonilla Bradánovich	1974	1975
	Hermán Brady Roche	1975	1978
	César Raúl Benavides Escobar	1978	1980
	Carlos Forestier Hansen	1980	1982
	Washington Carrasco Fernández	1982	1983
	Patricio Carvajal Prado	1983	March 11, 1990
File:PatricioRojas.jpg	Patricio Rojas Saavedra	March 11, 1990	March 11, 1994		Patricio Aylwin
	Edmundo Pérez Yoma	March 11, 1994	1998		Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle
	José Florencio Guzmán	1998	1998
	Raúl Troncoso Castillo	1998	1999
	Edmundo Pérez Yoma	1999	March 11, 2000
	Mario Fernández Baeza	March 11, 2000	January 7, 2002		Ricardo Lagos
	Michelle Bachelet Jeria	January 7, 2002	October 1, 2004
	Jaime Ravinet De La Fuente	October 1, 2004	March 11, 2006
	Vivianne Blanlot Soza	March 11, 2006	March 27, 2007		Michelle Bachelet
	José Goñi	March 27, 2007	March 12, 2009
	Francisco Vidal Salinas	March 12, 2009

Additional information

See also

• Military of Chile

Sources

• República de Chile (1942). "VI. Poder Ejecutivo - Nómina de Gobernantes, Presidentes y Ministros desde la Independencia." (in Spanish). Manual del Senado. 1810-1942. Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Universitaria. http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0027508.pdf.  (Spanish)
• Valencia Avaria, Luis (1986) (in Spanish). Anales de la República: textos constitucionales de Chile y registro de los ciudadanos que han integrado los poderes ejecutivo y legislativo desde 1810 (2ª edición ed.). Santiago de Chile: Editorial Andrés Bello.  (Spanish)

External links

• Official Website of the Ministry of Defense of Chile (Spanish)

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