Antonio Fuentealba
Antonio Fuentealba Medina (8 December 1933 – 1 May 2009) was a Chilean miner, union leader, and politician from the Communist Party of Chile.
He served as Deputy for the 17th Departamental Group during the XLVI Legislative Period (1969–1973).
He was also a councilor for the Municipality of Lota (1992–2000).
Biography
Fuentealba was born in the rural estate El Peral of Carahue on 8 December 1933, the son of José Arnulfo Fuentealba Nesbet and Teresa Medina Silva. He married Laura Ayala Vásquez on 23 June 1956, with whom he had six children.
He studied up to the third year of primary education in the Rural School Santa Célia, 18 km from Carahue. Later, in the German Democratic Republic he trained as an oxygen welder at the Hermann Matrens Academy.
Orphaned at the age of 7, he began working in agriculture and, by age 15, was a miner in Lota, where he worked from 1950 to 1969.
Political career
Fuentealba became active in union leadership as president of the Sindicato Industrial de Lota (1960–1969), director of the Federación Nacional Minera de Chile (1964–1969), and president of the Sindicato de Mineros del Carbón (1965–1968).
In 1969 he was elected Deputy for the 17th Departamental Group, serving until 1973. He was a member of the Permanent Commission of Labor and Social Legislation. He also took part in the provincial leadership of the Central Única de Trabajadores de Chile (CUT).
After the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, he was arrested on 17 September and sent to Isla Quiriquina. Accused of involvement in explosives, he was sentenced to eight years in prison. Later, he went into exile in the German Democratic Republic, working as a mechanic between 1976 and 1988.
Returning to Chile, he was elected councilor of Lota for the periods 1992–1996 and 1996–2000. He remained politically active until his death in May 2009.