Camilo Escalona, Historic Leader of the Chilean Socialist Party, Dies at 71

Camilo Escalona Medina, a prominent leader of the Socialist Party (PS) and former president of the Chilean Senate, died on Friday, September 4, at the age of 71. He passed away at the Clínica Indisa following a battle with aggressive prostate cancer. At the time of his death, Escalona was serving as the secretary general of the Socialist Party, though he had stepped back from public life earlier this year due to his health.

Escalona's political career spanned over five decades. He joined the Socialist Youth in 1969 at age 13 and later served as president of the Federation of Secondary Students of Santiago. Following the 1973 coup against President Salvador Allende, he lived in exile in Vienna, Cuba, and East Berlin before returning to Chile in the 1980s to participate in clandestine activities against the dictatorship. After the return to democracy in 1990, he served as a deputy and a senator, and he presided over the Senate from 2012 to 2013. He also served three terms as president of the Socialist Party between 1994 and 2010.

Political figures from across the spectrum expressed their condolences. President José Antonio Kast, who visited the family on Friday, acknowledged that while they were on opposite political sides, Escalona was a leader who defended his convictions with clarity and directness. Former President Gabriel Boric praised Escalona's courage in organizing during the dictatorship and credited his generation for the current political landscape. The Socialist Party highlighted his lifelong commitment to social justice and his final calls for the unity of the progressive movement.

His daughter, Natalia Escalona, described him as an irreducible democrat and a socialist of deep convictions. The Senate and the Socialist Party both recognized his role in the consolidation of Chilean democracy. A wake was scheduled for Saturday at the Senate after his remains were transferred to the PS headquarters.