Sergio Bitar

Biography

ergio Bitar is a Chilean politician and economist. He is currently the President of the Fundación por la Democracia in Chile and a nonresident senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, where he heads the Global Trends and Latin America’s Future Initiative. He is also working on a project of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) with Abraham Lowenthal on transitions to democracy.

Bitar served as the Minister of Mining under President Salvador Allende in 1973 and was detained under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, imprisoned in Dawson Island, and then forced into exile (1974-1984), living in Venezuela and the United States. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Institute for International Development (1974-76), Visiting Fellow, Latin American Program, Smithsonian Institution (1982-83). After his return to Chile, he was elected president of the Party for Democracy in three occasions (1992-1994, 1997-2000, and 2006-2008) and served as a Senator (1994-2002). In addition, he served as the Minister of Education under President Ricardo Lagos and Minister of Public Works under President Michelle Bachelet.

His recent books include: Tendencias Globales y el Futuro de America Latina, CEPAL, 2014; How and Why Latin America must think about the Future, Inter American Dialogue, 2013.; El Gobierno de Allende, Pehuén, Santiago,  3rd edition, 2013; Chile, Bolivia, Peru. Un Futuro Común, Aguilar, 2011; Dawson Isla 10, 13 edition, Pehuén, 2010; y Chile Mas Allá del Bicentenario, Planeta, 2009.

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