Homage to the Chilean Minister Abraham Ortega

Homage to the Chilean Minister Abraham Ortega

The MUME incorporates from today a small mention, in its permanent exhibition, to Abraham Grouse Aguayo (Lumaco 1891-Santiago 1951), Minister of Outer Relations of Chile during the Government of Pedro Aguirre Cerda that made possible the welcome of more than 2,500 Republican refugees, transported by ship Winnipeg, from France in September 1939.

Ortega was a tenacious defender of the right to asylum to ensure the integrity of immigrants and refugees. He was the key figure for more than two thousand Spanish Republican refugees to arrive in Chile on the ship "Winnipeg" to start a new life in freedom. His commitment to diplomatic work and his affiliation with the universal values of freedom and solidarity, give him a prominent place in his capacity as a defender of the human rights of victims of political persecution caused by wars.

From the MUME we want to thank the whole Ortega family and especially Verónica Aranda Ortega, granddaughter of Abraham Ortega, the transfer of documentation and information on the personality and political attitude of Ortega and the government of which he was part of the time to organize this important diplomatic and humanitarian action in the context of the Spanish Civil War and World War II.

Abraham Ortega Aguayo (1891-1951)

Winnipeg and Chile's 1939 reception of exiled Republicans

Abraham Ortega Aguayo was born in Lumaco (Arauco, Chile) in 1891 and graduated as a lawyer in 1915. In 1916 he married Betty Fenner Marín and they had three children, Renato, Rodolfo and María Isabel. In the 1920s, he joined the Radical Party, becoming a prominent leader in Concepción, and also obtained the position of Intendant of Concepción (1924-1928). He joined Freemasonry and, in 1928, set up his law firm in Santiago de Chile.

Abraham Ortega was part of the Government of the Popular Front of Pedro Aguirre Cerda, of the Radical Party, as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade between 1938 and 1940. During this stage he managed, and defended against opposing political sectors, the program of republican asylum for Spanish Basques and Catalans in exile that ended with organizing the trip from France to Chile (Valparaiso) of Winnipeg cargo ship with almost 2,400 refugees on board. In April 1939, Ortega and Aguirre appointed the poet Pablo Neruda as Special Consul for Spanish Emigration to Chile. The ship left Bordeaux on August 4, 1939 and arrived in Valparaíso on September 3. The Chilean Committee for Aid to Spanish Refugees was soon organized. Many of the Republican exiles from Winnipeg, who were able to rebuild their lives in Chile, were skilled workers, technicians and professionals, who made a great contribution to the development of Chilean industry and trade. Many excelled in the publishing, gastronomic, furniture, fishing, canning and also in Chilean scientific and artistic development.

From 1933 he also worked actively to receive Jewish refugees persecuted by Nazism, especially at the beginning of World War II.

When he left office, Ortega was falsely and unjustly accused by members of the Nazi ideology party Vanguardia Popular Socialista of being linked to cases of illegal collection of Jews for access to asylum visas in Chile by officials of the Ministry headed by Ortega. For this reason he resigned from his post and defended himself from the accusations.

Although this judicial process, conceived and interpreted as an attack by the political groups of the Chilean fascist right, affected him very politically, morally and physically, the so-called "Rojillo Ortega" was always a man of energetic character, solidarity, committed and whole.

His work as a lawyer and politician was completed in various positions at the Chilean Football Federation, the Instituto de Crédito e Indústria and the Beneficiencia Pública and he died in 1951.

In 2009, 70 years after the arrival of Winnipeg, President Bachelet led a commemorative event at the Palacio de la Moneda in recognition of the acts of international solidarity that took place when Abraham Ortega headed the Ministry of 'Exteriors.

Her granddaughter, Verónica Aranda Ortega, who lives in Barcelona, has provided the necessary documentation and information to be able to present this small and synthetic, but representative and symbolic, testimonial sample of one of the protagonists who allowed the reception of the victims of political persecution in Chile.

Abraham Ortega i el « Winnipeg »

Més informació – Bibliografia i enllaços d’interès

AAVV. (1999). Winnipeg 60 años. Centro Cultural de España (Editora: Iria Retuerto, Chile.

BRU, Roser (1989). “Viaje en el Winnipeg de la familia Bru”. Revista Universitaria núm. 27. Santiago, Chile.

CORBINOS, Isidro (1997). Pasaje al Winnipeg. Crónicas de la Guerra Civil Española. Red Internacional del Libro. Santiago de Chile.

FERRER, Jaime (1989). Los españoles del Winnipeg. Cal Soga, Santiago, Chile.

GALVEZ, Júlio (2003). Neruda y España. Ril Editores, Santiago, Chile.

GALVEZ, Júlio (2014). Winnipeg. Testimonios de un exilio. Biblioteca del exilio. Editorial Renacimiento, Sevilla.

JULIÓ, Montserrat (2002). Vida endins. Crònica d’un exili a Xile. Viena Edicions, Barcelona.

VÁZQUEZ, Angelina (1989). Winnipeg. Cuando la libertad tuvo nombre de barco. Ediciones Meiga, Madrid.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Ortega_Aguayo

http://defensoresydefensoras.indh.cl/defensores-as-en-la-historia/migrantes-y-refugiadosas/abraham-ortega/

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viaje_del_Winnipeg_de_1939

http://www.soitu.es/soitu/2009/09/02/info/1251860630_693424.html

http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0001872.pdf

http://www.memoriachilena.cl/602/w3-article-732.html

http://juliogalvezbarraza.blogspot.com/  

http://www.cazarabet.com/conversacon/fichas/fichas1/winnipeg.htm

http://www.exiliadosrepublicanos.info/sites/default/files/http/www.exiliadosrepublicanos.info/es/users/juliopereira/nomina_actualizada_winnipeg.pdf