the foray into politics of Chile’s greatest fortune

The entry of millionaires into politics is not new in Chile and even less so in the world. Donald Trump – who has a fortune estimated at $7.5 billion (according to Forbes) – was president of the United States, and in Chile, Sebastián Piñera – who was one of the richest businessmen in the country and who had assets close to 3 billion dollars – was President of the Republic twice. In Argentina it was also Mauricio Macri, whose fortune is in the order of 300 million dollars, similar to that owned by the current senator and president of RN, Rodrigo Galilea.

These are enormous amounts, which however pale when compared to the total fortune of the Luksic family: 27.8 billion dollars, according to Forbes, which positions them in 61st place among the largest in the world. Now, one of the members of this family is trying to fully enter politics: it is Maximiliano Luksic Lederer, who abandoned the private world, especially open TV, to compete – unless he changes his decision at the last minute – in the municipal election of Huechuraba, in a quota from Chile Vamos.

Indeed, on May 6, 2024, the third son of Andrónico Luksic Craig – controller of Quiñenco and other companies, including media outlets, such as Channel 13- He published a video on his networks where he said that “as of today, I close my cycle as Executive Director of Channel 13 and I have informed the board of directors.” Furthermore, he used a phrase that generated at least expectation: “I have decided to put an end to a period of work in the private world.”

At that point, Maximiliano Luksic had already begun meeting with various leaders of opposition parties, from Democrats and Yellows to the Republican Party. His candidacy was much more sought after in Chile Vamos than in the Republican Party, warn those familiar with the negotiations, because the former director of Channel 13 It has a less conservative profile than that of the store led by José Antonio Kast. On the entire right, in any case, they recognize that he is an interesting candidate, not only because of his business experience and financing possibilities, but because his last name is a recognizable brand.

Until now, the candidacy is not fully defined, comments in Luksic’s circle. However, the Chile Vamos parties, on the other hand, assure that said candidacy is already underway. In this regard, in Luksic’s In this regard, he wrote: “The challenge of understanding the territory and its communities in depth is great and very motivating!! Grateful for all the people who are opening the doors of their homes and their lives to us.”

From the ruling party, however, they observe the situation with concern, appealing to the asymmetry that competing with one like Luksic’s could mean for any other candidate, due to the economic power behind him, and also due to possible conflicts of interest. what it could entail.

The family weight

The Luksic family, of Croatian origin, owns the largest fortune in Chile and one of the largest in the world. The main parent company of the Luksic Group is Quiñenco, which brings together companies such as Banco de Chile, CCU, CSAV, Enex, SM SAAM and the French multinational Nexans. On the other hand, through Antofagasta PLC, headed by Jean-Paul Luksic –uncle of the eventual candidate for Huechuraba–, they participate in the mining sector, where they have control or participation in the ownership of mines such as Los Pelambres, Antucoya, Centinela and Zaldivar. In addition, they are owners of FCAB.

In case of Channel 13 It’s separate. Andronico Luksic, without the rest of his family, took ownership of the television signal in 2010, and in 2017 he acquired the entire channel. He is tied to his family office, where the Luksic Group does not participate. Maximiliano Luksic also does not participate or has participated mostly in the family group. The only time he had any employment relationship with him was when he worked for the hotel business that his family has in Croatia, in the Adriatic Luxury Hotels, Playa Laguna and Istraturist chains.

He arrived at his father’s channel in 2016, and in June 2019 he assumed executive direction.

First conversations

The heir of Andrónico Luksic knew that he wanted to take a step into the public sphere and among his options was entering the world of foundations, where his family has several, but politics caught his attention more. At first he thought about starting out as a councilor or advisor in a municipality. However, those familiar with the conversations between Luksic and the political leaders assure that it was the same parties that motivated him to run as mayor.

The meetings were with different opposition parties and, according to what was published Third, Luksic would compete as an independent in a UDI quota. Other Chile Vamos parties affirm that this is not completely defined, but that it is most likely. These dialogues are not over. In fact, just last Tuesday he met with the general secretary of RN, Andrea Balladares.

Inside Chile Vamos they assure that the store for which they compete is not a problem, as long as it belongs to one of the coalition parties.

Your competition and the counternarrative

On the opposite side, in the ruling party, there is concern about Luksic’s candidacy, because of the resources he has and because, in addition, they recognize that the surname weighs in an election with mandatory voting.

However, there is confidence that the official candidate for Huechuraba has great possibilities. Carolina Rojas is a councilor for the PPD and is the face of continuity for the current mayor Carlos Cuadrado, from the same party. Rojas is now going through her second term as councilor. In her first election she obtained the second majority and in the last one she amassed more votes and today she has the largest number of votes among the councilors of the commune.

He ethos of his campaign narrative is precisely the opposite of Luksic’s. Rojas lived her first years in the commune of Las Condes, one of the richest in the country, but not because she has a wealthy origin, but because she is the daughter of a home advisor of Aymara descent, who as a teenager traveled to the capital to work. When she was born, her mother worked in a private home “indoors.”

Once he finished his schooling, at the age of 17, he began to work in the commune of La Pintana. He later studied as a technician in Business Administration and today he is studying Engineering in the same area.

Rojas, in contact with The counter, indicated that in this election “at stake is the continuation of an exemplary project, which has provided living conditions and development to the community. I have seen this as a neighbor and councilor of Huechuraba all this time, but a profound political signal is also at stake.”

Regarding the latter, he clarified that the dilemma is “whether being a representative of the community should be the result of decades of work, of real concern for the people and of the merit that legitimacy gives or is, on the other hand, the result of surname, the money and the influence of someone who first set foot in the commune to be a candidate, without any type of previous public role.”

The councilor says: “More than a last name weighing, what really counts is the experience in the territory, and that is priceless.”

The academic eye on power

The IES researcher and Faro UDD associate, Rodrigo Pérez de Arce, highlights a couple of elements regarding the candidacy of Maximiliano Luksic. “The first is that I believe that we are at a particularly critical moment in our history, in which it is required that there be new leaderships, new ways of doing politics, new actors, and it seems to me in some sense natural that someone who has had a certain leadership in a specific area, wants to move to politics.”

Understanding that, it seems to him that Luksic is at a reasonable age to enter politics (he is 36 years old), but the big question – he says – is “why someone who until now has not expressed his opinion publicly regarding almost any issue, decides do it”.

Regarding the accumulation of power as a risk, the academic estimates that “in Chile being a politician is rather a burden” and, in that sense, he does not believe that Luksic “is entering a particularly glamorous activity.” Furthermore, he assures that he has no reason “to distrust Luksic’s intentions”, however, “there is certainly a risk of too much power gathering in one person”.

Marco Moreno, political scientist and director of the School of Government and Communications at the Central University, is more critical of this offensive by Luksic in the frontline political arena. “Our democracy has several problems, but without a doubt one of them has to do with the phenomenon of oligarchization of politics, which has to do with a phenomenon that concentrates power in the hands of a small elite and this weakens democracy, increases inequality and reduces the representativeness and responsiveness of the political system,” he says.

Despite this, it highlights the right of any person to run for political office, but it goes back to the social outbreak and remembers that there was a strong challenge to the elite. So, he states that “one of the reproduction mechanisms of the elites in Chile is this phenomenon of oligarchization. To this we also add the issue of plutocracy, that is, that they can obtain power through economic resources, especially those who have not had a political career” and assures that the challenge to this is one of the bases of the social outbreak of 2019.

The case, he adds, is different from that of Sebastián Piñera, since he states that “he dedicated himself to business, then he dedicated himself to politics and he dedicated himself to politics seriously,” he indicated, adding that his fortune “put him at the disposal of politics”.