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Gladys del Carmen Marin Millie was born on July 16th, 1941 in the city of Curepto.

She was the third of four daughters had by the marriage made up by Heraclio Marin, a farmer, and Adriana Millie, a teacher.
After a short while she arrived to Talagante along with her family. She coursed her first studies at the local public school to then move on to study liberal arts at the Nº5 Public School for Girls, in Santiago.

Thanks to a scholarship, she entered the Escuela Normal Nº2 (Normal School Nº2), where she graduated with a degree as a Primary School teacher, specializing in Differential Education.

Although she was a part of a few Christian youth movements for some years, the reality suffered by people with low incomes and the problems they faced led her to join the Communists Youths in 1957. That same year she was elected national president of the Federacion de Estudiantes Normalistas (Elementary Students Federation), thus beginning her political career.

From there on out Gladys Marin would become one of the most enthusiastic activists of the leftwing party. As early as 1960, she was a member of the Comite Central de Juventudes (Youths Central Committee), and three years later she was appointed secretary general of the same group.

During her work for the party in different housing projects of Santiago like Lo Hermida and La Victoria, she met another militant, engineer Jorge Muñoz, who she married on April 1st, 1961; further on the couple would have two sons, Rodrigo and Alvaro.

In 1965 she reached the Parliament after being elected deputy for Santiago. Later, she was reelected twice (1969 and 1973), until the coup d’état interrupted the country’s institutionalism.

As of this event, Gladys Marin became one of the one hundred most looked for people for the military repression bodies. For this reason, she had to live clandestinely. In order to protect her safety, the Communist party ordered her to isolate herself in the embassy of Holland, where she remained for nearly eight months.

After this, she became just another of the thousands of people exiled from the country. But, despite being kilometers away from her nation, she didn’t stop fighting to reveal the crimes committed in the country and the repression the military government had imposed, even violating some basic rights.

In 1976 she heard of the arrest of her husband, who was in the country along with her two sons. He was arrested by the Direccion Nacional de Inteligencia (National Intelligence Bureu, DINA). His whereabouts were never discovered, becoming just another disappeared detainee of the military regime.

Gladys Marin returned to the country two years later using false identities so as not to be discovered by the military. From there, she reorganized the forces of the party she belonged to, allowing a strong reappearance after the return of democracy.
Her battle cry was finding out the truth and justice.

As of 1994 she was named secretary general of the Communist party, becoming the first woman in the world to hold such an important position. From there on out she commanded the offensive in court to clear up the abuses committed during the dictatorship. Her intense work allowed her to be proclaimed a presidential candidate in 1994, promoting an program that was different to the economical and political systems that rules at the time.

After a long illness, she died on March 6th, 2005, in the comuna (county) of La Florida. Her wake took place on the premises of the former National Congress and thousands of people attended her funeral services.


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