The port where Allende became a politician. A rigorous and exciting chronicle about the decisive years of a leader and the city that marked him forever.
Valparaíso was not just a setting in Salvador Allende's life: it was the place where his political and human identity was forged. In these chronicles, Jaime Esponda Fernández reconstructs that intimate and gradual bond that united the future president with the city, tracing its roots from the character's Buenos Aires ancestors to the episodes that defined his early public career.
The book follows Allende through high school, through the medical unions and, above all, through the streets and assemblies of a province in full swing. Esponda Fernández documents his leading role in the founding of the Socialist Party in Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, his parliamentary activity and his decisive participation in the victory of Pedro Aguirre Cerda in 1938, a milestone that led to his appointment as Minister of Health at the age of 31.
More than a biography, this is a period chronicle. With solid documentary support, the work illuminates aspects of Allende's life that have not been addressed in other studies, while portraying the urban and economic transformation of Valparaíso in a period marked by crisis, social conflict and the emergence of new political forces shaped by the international context.
A local story that speaks of all of Chile.
Publisher: Ril Editores
May 19, 2026
Tuesday—7 p.m.
Sala C2 (Edificio B, piso —1)
Free, upon registration.
Limited spaces.
