Jorge Prat Echaurren was a Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an nationalist

Nationalism

Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...

 politician.

Prat was born in Santiago, Chile

Santiago, Chile

Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...

. A veteran of the nationalist political scene, he was first associated with the National Socialist Movement of Chile

National Socialist Movement of Chile

Movimiento Nacional Socialista de Chile was a political movement in Chile, during the Presidential Republic Era, which initially supported the ideas of Adolf Hitler, although it later moved towards a more indigenous form of fascism....

 or Nacis, albeit as a low level member. During the late 1940s he led his own group, the Estanqueros, based around corporatism

Corporatism

Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...

 and strong support for the regimes of Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

 and António de Oliveira Salazar

António de Oliveira Salazar

António de Oliveira Salazar, GColIH, GCTE, GCSE served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He also served as acting President of the Republic briefly in 1951. He founded and led the Estado Novo , the authoritarian, right-wing government that presided over and controlled Portugal...

 as well as militant anti-communism

Anti-communism

Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...

. It sought the creation of a highly disciplined hierarchy in society and government with a strong charismatic leader and an elite rulering class in an ideology

Ideology

An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...

 that Prat called current portalismo after Diego Portales

Diego Portales

Diego José Pedro Víctor Portales Palazuelos was a Chilean statesman and entrepreneur. As a minister of president José Joaquín Prieto Diego Portales played a pivotal role in shaping the state and government politics in the 19th century, delivering with the Constitution of 1833 the framework of the...

. His movement published its own weekly newspaper, Estanquero, between 1949 and 1954. Later the Estanqueros would be subsumed into the Chilean Anti-Communist Action a more militant group associated with rightist former President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo

Carlos Ibáñez del Campo

General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo was a Chilean Army officer and political figure. He served as dictator between 1927 and 1931 and as constitutional President from 1952 to 1958.- The coups of 1924 and 1925 :...

.

Prat would himself become associated with Ibáñez and served as Minister of Finance in his second government from 1954 to 1955. As Minister Prat endorsed an austerity programme with higher taxes and the suspension of the right to strike

Strike action

Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

, leading to severe opposition from the National Congress of Chile

National Congress of Chile

The National Congress is the legislative branch of the government of the Republic of Chile.The National Congress of Chile was founded on July 4, 1811...

. His governmental career ended soon after this.

Prat then attempted to run for President of Chile

President of Chile

The President of the Republic of Chile is both the head of state and the head of government of the Republic of Chile. The President is responsible of the government and state administration...

 in the 1964 election

Chilean presidential election, 1964

A presidential election was held in Chile on September 4, 1964. Christian Democratic candidate Eduardo Frei Montalva won the election by an absolute majority....

 and to this end formed his own party, the National Action Party, with Sergio Onofre Jarpa

Sergio Onofre Jarpa

Sergio Onofre Jarpa Reyes is a Chilean politician who served as a member of the cabinet during the government of Augusto Pinochet.-Biography:Coming from a rural background, he studied agriculture at the University of Chile...

 in 1963. Prat's campaign did not prove a success however and he withdrew his candidacy before the election. It has since been suggested that United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 intelligence services encouraged political leaders to pressure Prat into abandoning his candidacy in case his presence in the election split the vote and allowed Salvador Allende

Salvador Allende

Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....

 to be elected. He merged his party with various other groups to form the National Party in 1966. He died in Curacaví

Curacaví

Curacaví is a city and commune in the Melipilla Province of central Chile's Santiago Metropolitan Region.-Geography and climate:Immersed among the hills of the coastal mountain range, Curacaví occupies an area of and borders the following communes: Casablanca, Quilpué, Lampa, Pudahuel, Maipú,...

.