Pedro Stark

He was born in Los Ángeles, the son of Ernesto Stark Frenzel and Rosa Amelia Troncoso Pincheira. He completed his primary education at the local public school and secondary education at the Liceo de Hombres of the same city. Later, he pursued higher technical studies in accounting.

He married Raquel Ortega Ferreira and they had four children, two sons and two daughters. Among them is Teresa Stark, former councilwoman and mayor of Los Ángeles.^[1]

He began his political activities by joining the Falange Nacional. In 1938 he founded this movement in Los Ángeles and the Biobío Province. He also collaborated in the foundation of the Falange Nacional in the Malleco Province, Angol and other cities in southern Chile.

Representing his party, he was elected councilman of Los Ángeles in the 1950 municipal elections, serving until 1956. That year, he was elected mayor of Los Ángeles after obtaining a wide majority in the 1956 municipal elections.

He held the office until 3 March 1961. During his tenure, he modernized the municipality by incorporating vehicles and machinery into communal tasks such as garbage collection, the municipal slaughterhouse, and urban road works. He also created the municipal comptroller's office. Following the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, he oversaw the planning and construction of major urban projects under the first Regulatory Plan of Los Ángeles.

In 1957, he joined the Christian Democratic Party, where he served as director and local president in Los Ángeles, as well as provincial president of Biobío.

In the 1961 parliamentary elections, he was elected deputy for the 1961–1965 term, representing the 19th Departamental Grouping "Laja, Mulchén and Nacimiento". He served on the Permanent Commission on Internal Government.

In the 1965 parliamentary elections, he was re-elected deputy for the 1965–1969 term in the same constituency. He held the position of Second Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile from 11 July 1967. He chaired the Permanent Commission on Economy and Commerce, and was also an alternate member of the Christian Democratic Parliamentary Committee (1964–1965) and of the Interparliamentary Group in 1965.

In the 1969 parliamentary elections, he was elected again for the 1969–1973 term. He served as Second Vice President of the Chamber from 4 June to 9 September 1969 and was a member of the Permanent Commission on Latin American Integration.^[2]

He participated in several opposition groups to the Pinochet regime, such as the Proyecto de Desarrollo Nacional, the Democratic Alliance, the Comité por Elecciones Libres and the Concertación.

In 1987, he was elected president of the Democratic Alliance. After the return to democracy, he remained active in the Christian Democratic Party in Los Ángeles.

He died in his hometown on 5 June 1999.