Marcos Robledo
Marcos Paulo Robledo Hoecker (born 29 October 1963) is a Chilean journalist and political scientist.
From March 2014 to March 2018, he served as Undersecretary of Defense during the second government of President Michelle Bachelet.
Biography
Robledo was born in Santiago, Chile, the son of Elmo Arnaldo Robledo Huanchicay and María Loreto Hoecker Pizarro. Through his mother, he is a grandson of Gustavo Hoecker, a Chilean veterinarian, scientist and academic.
He studied at the School of Journalism of the University of Chile. He later undertook postgraduate studies in national security and graduated with distinction with a Master of Arts in National Security Affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, United States.
Between March 1998 and June 2005, Robledo served first as deputy head and later as head of the Advisory Committee to the Minister of National Defense, where he worked directly on the design and management of the ministry's domestic and international public policies. During President Michelle Bachelet's first administration, from 2006 to 2010, he served as an adviser on foreign and defense policy.
Robledo has been a member of the Foreign Policy Advisory Council of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From January 2008 to 2010, he also served on the ministry's Advisory Council on the Maritime Boundary. From 2010 to 2012, he worked as an international consultant for the United Nations Development Programme. Between 2003 and 2010, he was included in the Organization of American States' register of experts on confidence-building measures.
He has served as an academic coordinator at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO-Chile) and as a professor of international relations, foreign policy and research design at the School of Political Science of Diego Portales University. He has also served as coordinator of the international workshop at the Instituto Igualdad. Robledo is a member of the Socialist Party of Chile.
On 24 January 2014, President-elect Michelle Bachelet appointed Robledo Undersecretary of Defense for her second administration. He took office on 11 March 2014 alongside the rest of Bachelet's first cabinet. On 11 March 2018, he was succeeded by Cristián de la Maza, who was appointed by President Sebastián Piñera.
In November 2021, presidential candidate Eduardo Artés accused Robledo of working with the United States Central Intelligence Agency to plan acts of sabotage and attacks against the communist government of Cuba. Artés based his allegations on claims made by Carlos Vázquez González, an agent of Cuban State Security. Robledo denied the allegations, describing them as "completely false".