Beatriz Allende

Who was Beatriz Allende?

Beatriz Ximena Allende Bussi was a Chilean Socialist politician, revolutionary and surgeon. She was the daughter of former president of Chile Salvador Allende, and his wife, Hortensia Bussi. She was of Basque, Belgian and Italian descent.

Known affectionately as Tati to her family and friends, she studied medicine at the University of Concepción and graduated as a surgeon. She married Cuban diplomat Luis Fernandez de Oña and had two children, Maya Fernandez and Alejandro Salvador Allende.

When her father was democratically elected as the President of Chile in November 1970, Beatriz became his closest advisor and collaborator, networking with elements of the Chilean and international Left. During Pinochet's coup, despite being pregnant, she stayed with her father in La Moneda Presidential Palace, leaving only when President Allende ordered all women and children to evacuate. She was forced into exile with her mother, sisters and daughter to Cuba. While in exile in Havana, she served as executive secretary of the Anti-Imperialist Solidarity Committee.

Four years and one month to the day after her father died in the civic-military coup, she ended her own life on October 11th, 1977. Her body was laid to rest in the Pantheon of Revolutionary Armed Forces in the Colon Cemetery in Havana.