Juan Eduardo Mackenna
Juan Eduardo Mackenna Astorga (17 September 1846 – 2 November 1929) was a Chilean lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile and the Senate of Chile.
A member of the Liberal Democratic Party, Mackenna represented several constituencies in the Chamber of Deputies before serving as senator for Coquimbo from 1909 to 1915.
Biography
Mackenna was born in Santiago on 17 September 1846, the son of Félix Mackenna Vicuña and María del Carmen Astorga Falcón. He studied at the Instituto Nacional, the Colegio de San Luis and the University of Chile, qualifying as a lawyer in 1870. He married Margarita Eyzaguirre Echaurren, with whom he had six children.
He began his public career as secretary to diplomat Alberto Blest Gana in Washington and London between 1866 and 1869. He later served in the Intendancy of Valparaíso and, during the War of the Pacific, worked in the General Intendancy of the Army and Navy.
Mackenna entered Congress in 1876 as deputy for Lautaro and later represented Valparaíso in several periods. In 1890, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Worship and Colonization under President José Manuel Balmaceda.
During the Chilean Civil War of 1891, he served briefly as senator for Valparaíso in the Constituent Congress. After spending several years away from politics, he returned to the Senate in 1909 as representative for Coquimbo, replacing Rafael Balmaceda Fernández, and remained in office until 1915.
Mackenna died in Santiago on 2 November 1929.