Gabriel Boric
Gabriel Boric Font[a] (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡaˈβɾjel‿ˈβoɾitʃ ˈfont];[b] born 11 February 1986)[3] is a Chilean politician serving as the 37th and current president of Chile since March 2022. The leader of Apruebo Dignidad, he was member of the Chamber of Deputies for the district of Magallanes and Antarctic from 2014 to 2022.
Gabriel Boric
District established
Javiera Morales[1]
28th district
District suppressed
60th district
Andrés Fielbaum
11 February 1986
Punta Arenas, Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region, Chile
- Social Convergence (2018–)
- Broad Front (2017–)
- Apruebo Dignidad (2021–)
- Unity for Chile (2023–)
Autonomous Left
(2008–2016)
Autonomist Movement
(2016–2018)
Irina Karamanos (2019–2023)
Vladimiro Boric Crnosija (grand-uncle)
University of Chile (did not graduate)[2]
Boric initially gained political prominence as a student leader during his time studying law at the University of Chile, being elected as president of the influential student federation during the student protests in 2011. This earned him a place in the 100 young leaders of Chile, published by El Sábado magazine in 2012.
He first ran for office as an independent candidate in 2013 and later as part of the Broad Front coalition in 2017. In 2018, Boric founded the Social Convergence party, one of the parties that constitute the Broad Front and later Approve Dignity.[4] During the 2019 civil unrest, Boric played a pivotal role in negotiating the agreement that led to the October 2020 constitutional referendum.[5]
In December 2021, he secured the country's presidency by defeating José Antonio Kast in the second round of the presidential election, receiving 55.9% of the votes. Following his election, Boric became the youngest president in Chilean history and is currently the seventh youngest serving state leader in the world.[c][6][7]
Early life[edit]
Family[edit]
On his father's side, Boric hails from a Croatian-Chilean family with roots in Ugljan, an island located off the Adriatic coast of Croatia.[8] Despite his ancestors'[d] migration from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Chile in 1897, Boric maintains connections with his relatives residing on Ugljan.[9][10] His great-grandfather, Juan Boric (Ive Borić Barešić), along with his brother Simón (Šime), arrived in Punta Arenas around 1885, being among the initial ten Croats to settle in Magallanes.[11] They ventured into the Tierra del Fuego gold rush in the Magallanes region, spending time on the islands south of the Beagle Channel.[11] Subsequently, Juan Boric briefly returned to Ugljan to marry and brought his wife, Natalia Crnosija, back to Magallanes, where ten out of their eleven children were born.[11] Boric's grandfather, Luis Boric Crnosija, born in 1908, was one of these children.[11]
Gabriel Boric's father, Luis Boric Scarpa, is a chemical engineer who has served as a government employee at Empresa Nacional del Petróleo for over 40 years.[12] His mother, María Soledad Font Aguilera, is of Catalan descent.[13][14] In the Patagonian region of Magallanes, Boric's granduncle, Vladimiro Boric, became the first bishop of Punta Arenas.[15] Another granduncle, Roque Scarpa Martinich, assumed the role of the first intendant of the Magallanes Region following the military dictatorship. Both Roque Scarpa and Gabriel Boric's father were members of the Christian Democratic Party. Yet another granduncle, Roque Esteban Scarpa, won the 1980 Chilean National Prize for Literature, and his granduncle Vicente Boric was also a writer.[16]
Gabriel Boric himself was born in Punta Arenas in 1986. He has two brothers named Simón and Tomás.[17]
Education[edit]
Boric studied at The British School in his hometown[18][19] before moving to Santiago in 2004 to attend the law school at the University of Chile.[20] He completed his coursework in 2009, coinciding with his appointment as the President of the Law School students' union. Afterward, he focused on preparing for his final exam and fulfilling his mandatory internship. However, he did not pass the test in 2011 and chose not to retake it.[21] Boric did not obtain a law degree and has expressed in interviews that he never intended to pursue a career as a lawyer, instead aspiring to become a writer.[2]
During his university years, Boric had the opportunity to work as an assistant to Professor José Zalaquett in his human rights course.[22][23] Zalaquett commended Boric for his inclination to question and doubt, as revealed in an interview.[22]
Electoral history[edit]
2013 parliamentary elections[edit]
2013 parliamentary elections for deputy of District 60 (Río Verde, Antártica, Laguna Blanca, Natales, Cabo de Hornos, Porvenir, Primavera, Punta Arenas, San Gregorio, Timaukel and Torres del Paine)[29]
