Silvestre Ochagavía Errázuriz
Silvestre Ochagavía Errázuriz (1820 – 8 January 1883) was a Chilean lawyer, diplomat, agriculturalist and politician.
A member of the National Party, he served as Minister of Justice, Worship and Public Instruction under President Manuel Montt, as a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile and the Senate of Chile, and as vice president of the Chamber of Deputies. He was also active in the development of Chilean viticulture.
Education
Ochagavía was born in Santiago in 1820, the son of Silvestre Martínez de Ochagavía Sequeira, an Argentine who settled in Chile, and Manuela Errázuriz Aldunate. He married Concepción Echaurren Huidobro, with whom he had children.
He studied law at the University of Chile and qualified as a lawyer in 1847. The previous year, he had been appointed a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After completing his legal studies, the government sent him on an official mission to Europe. While in France, Ochagavía studied contemporary methods of winemaking and grape cultivation, which he later introduced at his agricultural properties in Chile. He returned to the country in 1850.
Political career
Ochagavía was appointed Minister of Justice, Worship and Public Instruction under President Manuel Montt on 27 July 1852. He remained in the ministry until 13 January 1855.
In 1852, he was elected deputy for Santiago for the 1852–1855 legislative term. He served as a substitute member of the Permanent Commission on Constitution, Legislation and Justice and as a member of the Permanent Commission on Finance and Industry. He was reelected for Santiago for the 1855–1858 term and served on the Permanent Commission on Education and Charity.
On 5 June 1855, Ochagavía was elected vice president of the Chamber of Deputies, a position he held until May 1858.
He was elected to the Senate of Chile for the 1858–1867 term, although he did not formally take his seat until 11 June 1860. In the Senate, he served on the Permanent Commission on Government and Foreign Affairs and later on the Permanent Commission on Constitution, Legislation and Justice. He was also a member of the Conservative Commission during several congressional recesses between 1860 and 1864.
During his senatorial term, Ochagavía defended former president Manuel Montt, then president of the Supreme Court of Chile, during the constitutional accusation brought against him.
Montt also sent Ochagavía to London with the rank of minister plenipotentiary to negotiate a seven-million-peso loan authorized by Congress to finance construction of the railway between Santiago and Valparaíso. On his return to Chile, he was offered the Interior portfolio but declined the appointment.
Following Antonio Varas' withdrawal from the presidential contest in 1861, the National Party proclaimed Ochagavía as its presidential candidate. He declined the nomination and left the country to prevent further efforts to persuade him to accept it.
After leaving the Senate, Ochagavía returned to the Chamber of Deputies as representative for Ovalle for the 1870–1873 term. He served on the Permanent Commission on Education and Charity and participated in the Constituent Congress of 1870, which considered reforms to the Constitution of 1833.
In 1881, Ochagavía broke with the sector of the National Party that supported the presidential candidacy of Domingo Santa María.
Outside politics, Ochagavía devoted considerable attention to agriculture and viticulture at his Lo Ochagavía estate in Santiago. After studying French winemaking techniques during his European travels, he introduced modern methods and grape varieties to his estate and became one of the early large-scale figures in Chilean wine production.
Ochagavía died at his estate in Santiago on 8 January 1883.