Хосе Торибио Мерино Кастро: Чилийский адмирал и лидер военного переворота.

Chilean politician and admiral

José Toribio Merino Castro (December 14, 1915 – August 30, 1996) was an admiral of the Chilean Navy who was one of the principal leaders of the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, along with General Augusto Pinochet of the Army, General Gustavo Leigh of the Air Force, and General César Mendoza of the Carabineros (national police). Together they established a military dictatorship that ruled Chile from 1973 until 1990, during which more than 3,197 Chilean citizens were executed or simply "disappeared", according to the reports of official bi partisan commissions established by the President of Chile, Patricio Alwyn, in the 1990s. Merino, as head of the Navy, was a member of the Military Government Junta from the day of the coup until his retirement on March 8, 1990, just a few days before the beginning of civilian rule. Under his leadership in the days immediately following the coup, the Chilean Navy was responsible for human rights violations including death in detention, disappearance and torture, practices that were only publicly acknowledged by the institution in 2004, more than eight years after Merino's death. In 2021, the Chilean Navy refused to remove a statue of Merino from the gardens of the Maritime Museum of Valparaíso. The statue's removal had been sought by the Chilean Foundation for Historic Memory. The President of the Foundation, Luis Mariano Rendón, described Merino as an integral part of the military junta which implemented a systematic policy of human rights violations.

Born in La Serena, he was son of Vice Admiral José Toribio Merino Saavedra, [[Chilean Navy#Commanders in chief, and of Bertina Castro Varela. He entered the Naval Academy in 1931, graduating in 1936 as a midshipman. According to his memoirs, during World War II he would have served in the US Navy on the Raleigh until 1945. He served in different units of the Chilean Navy, such as the ships Latorre (1943) and Serrano (1945). Later on, he served in Destructor Serrano (2do), Crucero O'Higgins (4to) (CL02), Corbeta Papudo(1º), Transporte Angamos (3ro). Between 1955 and 1957 he served as aide and counsel in weaponry to the Chilean embassy in London, during the construction of the s Williams and Riveros. In 1960, he was assigned as a professor at the Naval War Academy (AGN) teaching logistics, Geopolitics, Geostrategy. In 1969 he became Naval Director of Weapons. In January 1970 he was appointed as Director of Navy Services, and in November of the same year, he assumed the command of the Chilean main combat fleet (CJE).

As the second in command and also as a member of the Governing Junta he was in charge of the economic sector of the country and presided over the Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers, where the economic measures were born. In addition, all the decrees were elaborated and the laws on the matters had to dictate to regulate the economic sector. From the Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers, he impelled, the first economic measures of the Military Government, the liberation of prices of goods and services; the fiscal cost was reduced and the interest rates were freed to give birth to capital markets; the companies of the State were reorganized as well, standardizing them. By the end of 1974, he represented the Government and the State of Chile before the Spanish Government, to renegotiate contracts that appeared unfavourable to Chile. Especially, the Pegaso contract was renegotiated, successfully. The study of the Statute for foreign investors was the initiative of Admiral Merino. He impelled the study and the decree law of exporter promotion of Chile, which gave origin to PROCHILE. In 1975 he participated in the Statute of the Governing Junta, the Legislative Commissions and the Secretariat of Legislation were created. Admiral Merino presided over the First Legislative Commission after a law established the organization of the junta was enacted in 1974 which made the ruling junta the legislative power of the country and vested formally Pinochet the executive power as the self proclaimed new President of Chile. Under Merino's leadership, the junta as the Legislative Commission first legislated mainly for the economic sectors and of Foreign Relations, and soon, the Fourth Legislative Commission of the junta enacted laws for the Defense Sector. In this period they fostered the Decree Law to discontinue the forestation, settling down incentives to develop the monoculture plantations across the country. Again it represented the Government of Chile before the United States Government and one met with President Jimmy Carter. They Decree Law N 3480, which allowed the indebted of the Association of Savings and Mortgages to re pact their debts, which came to the favour of workers of the middle class sector. During the conflict with Argentina over the Beagle Channel, Merino was one of the most belligerent junta members. He only reluctantly accepted Pope John Paul II's peace proposal, telling him, "I only signed the treaty because I'm Catholic and I respect Your Holiness. If I weren't, I wouldn't have signed it." Also, he ordered the commander of the surface fleet to "go there and win the war". In 1980 law N 3,500 was dictated to the decree that created the new provisional system. Admiral Merino was a great defender of this legislation, giving his approval and endorsement during the study and discussion of this matter. He was the main legislative person in charge of the materialization. When in 1980 the new constitution was approved, Admiral Merino presided over the Governing Junta. This constituted the legislative power legitimized by the constitution and remained in effect until March 1990, when democratic government was restored. In addition, the admiral presided over the fifth Legislative Commission of the junta. In 1982 the country was affected by the worldwide recession and the Government had to take economic measures to palliate the crisis that developed. Admiral Merino, from the Legislative Power, impelled laws on the modernization of the financial sector, the guarantee of the State to the deposits and savings, lowering of the tariffs to the imports and in general, the normalization of the sectors more affected by the crisis, giving the maximum support to the Executive authority, which was allowed to remove to the country from the crisis. During this period he impelled the initiative of the Law of promotion to the Merchant Marine, remarkably contributing to the growth of this sector and also to the sector of shipyards and naval industry through the Law N 18.454. He presented the relative motions to replace the Code of Commerce; to adapt the Chilean marine limits to the Convention of Jamaica, by means of the corresponding reform to the Civil Code, and to countermand the legislation that allowed the therapeutic abortion, everything which was approved by means of the corresponding laws dictated in that period. Also, he impelled all the Constitutional Statutory laws, which allowed the Military Government to fulfil the constitutional itinerary and delivery the power to the city elected authority. In 1989 he proposed to the Executive authority the law of Fishing and Agriculture, which was obtained after a great discussion in the sector. Its aim was to put the conditions for the conservation of renewable marine resources. Finally, it corresponded to him to preside over the Joint Legislative Commission destined to reform the Political Constitution, whose text, approved by the Governing Junta, was ratified by the conducted plebiscite on the 30 of June 1989. During the period of government of the FF. AA., under his tuition 3,660 Decrees were promulgated Laws and 1,090 Laws that take his signature. But Pinochet as the president of the country has the final authority to ratify and implement such laws passed by the junta and approved by Merino. He retired from the navy as its commander in chief on the 8 of March 1990, after more than 50 years of service. He was also the President of the Government Junta of Chile, the de facto vice president of the country from March 11, 1981, until his resignation on March 8, 1990.

During the dictatorship, Merino held short improvised press conferences on Tuesdays that came to be called martes de Merino (Merino's Tuesdays). These conferences gained notoriety for Merino's recurrent use of dark humor in addition to his "constant errors and aberrations". In one conference, Merino refused to describe communists as humans.

On the night of the 1988 plebiscite which resulted in the victory of democratic camp and ended Pinochet's rule, Merino, with Air Force Chief Fernando Matthei and Carabineros de Chile chief Rodolfo Stange pushed back against Pinochet's plans to overturn the result of the vote and extend his rule, thus allowing the Chilean transition to democracy to take place as planned.

After his retirement, he stayed out of politics and dedicated himself to his favourite pastime, playing golf. He started to write his memoirs but did not live to see them published. He died of lymphoma in 1996, in Viña del Mar, at the age of 80. The Chilean Navy in honour of the Admiral named after him the BMS Almirante Merino. This ship is the main surface logistic platform for the submarine force.