16 Facts About Fernando Matthei

Fernando Matthei Aubel was a Chilean Air Force general who was part of the military junta that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, replacing the dismissed Gustavo Leigh as commander-in-chief of the Chilean Air Force on 24 July 1978.

Fernando Matthei was part of the Junta from 1978 to 1990, and served as minister of health from 1976 to 1978, retiring from the Air Force in July 1991.

Fernando Matthei was promoted to flight captain in 1954, teaching classes in arms at the Aviation School.

Fernando Matthei became the adjutant to the air force commander in chief, General Eduardo Iensen, the following year.

In January 1975, Fernando Matthei was promoted to air brigade general.

The 24 July 1978, after the dismissal of General Gustavo Leigh and of most generals of the institution, Fernando Matthei was promoted to air general and appointed commander of the air force and a member of the military junta, occupying the Second Legislative Committee chair.

Fernando Matthei made a secret visit to the Butantan Institute with a FACH delegation in 1979, which was recorded in photos found in 2024 in the Brazilian archives.

In October 1988, Fernando Matthei was pivotal in preventing another power grab by Pinochet after the dictator lost the referendum to elect him for a new eight-year presidential term.

Fernando Matthei was the first member of the junta to publicly admit to the press, while entering La Moneda to meet Pinochet, that Pinochet had lost the plebiscite.

Fernando Matthei refused, saying that he would not agree to such a thing under any circumstances, and the rest of the junta followed his lead.

In 1990, with the return of democracy, Fernando Matthei ceased to be a member of the military junta, but retained his position as the commander in chief of the Air Force.

Fernando Matthei retired voluntarily on 31 July 1991 and noted that with his retirement, the air force could fully adapt to democracy.

In September 2005, Fernando Matthei admitted in a television program that he "did everything possible so that Argentina would lose" the 1982 Falklands War with Britain.

Fernando Matthei was born among a community of German Chileans in Southern Chile.

Fernando Matthei was the father of Chilean senator and 2013 presidential candidate and former mayor of Providencia Evelyn Fernando Matthei.

Fernando Matthei died in 2017 and was buried in Parque del Recuerdo, Santiago de Chile.