Roberto Kelly (politician)

Roberto Tomás Kelly Vásquez (20 June 1920 – 7 December 2012) was a Chilean naval officer, businessperson, consultant and political figure who served as a senior civilian collaborator of the military government led by General Augusto Pinochet. He was a leading organiser of the group of liberal economists who drafted El ladrillo, the influential document that shaped Chile's market-oriented economic reforms from the mid-1970s onward.

Kelly served as Head of the National Planning Office (ODEPLAN) from 1973 to 1978 and later as Minister of Economy from 1978 to 1979.

Early life and family

Kelly was born in Santiago to Roberto Kelly Gray — the son of an Irish naval officer who participated in the War of the Pacific — and Ceferina Vásquez Gallegos. Both parents were deaf and helped found the National Association of the Deaf in Chile. His father worked for almost three decades at the Ministry of Finance.

He married Ruby Jara Berríos in 1946 and had seven children: Rolando, Roberto, Jorge Patricio, Maureen, Ruby, Cristián and Jacqueline.

Naval career

Kelly studied at the Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera and the Internado Nacional Barros Arana, leaving the latter at age 13 to enter the Arturo Prat Naval Academy in Valparaíso. He was admitted thanks to a letter of recommendation from then–Finance Minister Gustavo Ross.

He graduated in 1940 as deck and engine officer, specialising in submarine operations. In 1965 he became commanding officer of the training ship Esmeralda, and in 1966 he was appointed Director of Naval Personnel. He retired in 1968 with the rank of captain, after which he moved into private-sector roles.

Role in the military government

Following the 11 September 1973 coup d’état, Kelly joined the new government as director of the Odeplan, under the sponsorship of Admiral José Toribio Merino of the governing junta.

Before the coup, Kelly had played a key role in promoting a liberal economic alternative to the policies of the Popular Unity government. This effort resulted in the creation of El ladrillo, which became the foundational document for the regime's economic programme.

From 1978 to 1979 he served as Minister of Economy, Development and Reconstruction. After leaving government he returned to the private sector as a businessperson and consultant.

Bibliography

• Conversando con Roberto Kelly V. Recuerdos de una vida, Patricia Arancibia Clavel, Editorial Biblioteca Americana, Santiago, 2005.