Mario Arnello
Mario Arnello Romo (born 25 December 1925) is a Chilean lawyer, scholar, poet and politician, and one of the founders of the right-wing National Party in 1966.
Arnello is a professor of public international law and Chilean border studies at the Faculty of Law, University of Chile, a position he has held for many years. He also served as president of the Academic Evaluation Commission and as an independently elected councilor of the Faculty, while maintaining a private legal practice.
During the regime of Augusto Pinochet (1973–1990), Arnello was director of DIBAM (1986–1990) and special ambassador both at United Nations (1974–1978) and in the Organization of American States (1974–1976).
Life and career
Early life
Born in 1925, Arnello was the son of José Arnello Alcorta and Zulema Romo Romo. Through his maternal family, he was exposed to politics from an early age, particularly through relatives such as his uncle Luis Salas Romo, a politician of the Radical Party who served as a minister during the first government of Arturo Alessandri Palma (1920–1924). Arnello himself met Alessandri when he was eight years old.
Arnello completed his secondary education at the Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera, where he served as president of the Student Center. In 1941, while in his fifth year, he was also among the founding members of the institution's Academy of Castilian Letters (Spanish acronym: ALCIN). Through the academy, he came into contact with prominent Chilean writers, including Pablo Neruda, Salvador Reyes and Francisco Coloane.
In the early 1940s, Arnello enrolled at the University of Chile School of Law, graduating with a thesis entitled Syndicalism, which was approved with distinction. Following his graduation, he received a scholarship from the Instituto de Cultura Hispánica, then an institution of Francoist Spain, to pursue doctoral studies in law at the University of Madrid. His doctoral thesis, completed in 1953 and entitled El sindicato español –«The Spanish Syndicate»–, reflected the national-syndicalist political ideas associated with the Spanish fascist party FET y de las JONS, commonly known as the Falange (1937–1977).
Other public activities
Former deputy Arnello held various positions during the regime of Augusto Pinochet. In 1974, he was appointed a delegate to the United Nations and a counselor of the Caja de Accidentes del Trabajo.
At the same time, he served as Chilean ambassador to the 29th and 30th sessions of the United Nations General Assembly, UN, and to the Fifth General Assembly of the Organization of American States of the Organization of American States, OAS, between 1974 and 1975.
During those years, he also served as minister plenipotentiary at the conference held in Costa Rica to amend the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, and was sent as a special envoy of the President of the Republic to Colombia and Ecuador. Returning to his professional activities, he served as legal counsel for Línea Aérea Nacional (LAN) until 1979, a position he was forced to leave due to his opposition to the company's privatization.
Later, from 1 June 1981 to 1 April 1982, he served on the Fourth Legislative Commission, both as a regular and substitute member. In 1986, he was appointed director-general of the Dirección de Bibliotecas, Archivos y Museos (DIBAM), a position he held until 1990.
Arnello is a writer and essayist on contemporary issues, including geopolitics, among other subjects. He is also a member of the Society of Writers of Chile and the Grupo Fuego poetry group.