Gaspar Rivas
{{Short description|Chilean politician (born 1978)}}
{{family name hatnote|Rivas|Sánchez|lang=Spanish}}{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Gaspar Rivas
| image = Gaspar Alberto Rivas Sánchez (2022).jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1978|5|17}}
| birth_place = Los Andes, Chile
| office = Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile
| constituency = District 6
| term_start = 11 March 2022
| term_end =
| predecessor = Pablo Kast
| successor =
| constituency1 = 11th District
| term_start1 = 11 March 2010
| term_end1 = 11 March 2018
| predecessor1 =
| successor1 = Dissolution of the district
| party = Independent
| otherparty = {{Unbulleted list|Renovación Nacional
(2005−2014){{Cite web |url=http://www.publimetro.cl/nota/politico/diputado-gaspar-rivas-renuncio-a-renovacion-nacional-chao-con-rn/xIQnhg!hTrMwKO2s2U9c/ |title=Diputado Gaspar Rivas: 'Renuncio a Renovación Nacional. Chao con RN' |publisher=Publimetro |date=7 August 2014 |access-date=15 March 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140811223527/http://www.publimetro.cl/nota/politico/diputado-gaspar-rivas-renuncio-a-renovacion-nacional-chao-con-rn/xIQnhg!hTrMwKO2s2U9c/ |archive-date=11 August 2014 |url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.elmostrador.cl/noticias/pais/2014/08/11/gaspar-rivas-formaliza-renuncia-a-rn-y-critica-a-la-alianza-no-tiene-capacidad-de-dejar-de-mirarse-el-ombligo/|title=Gaspar Rivas formaliza renuncia a RN y critica a la Alianza: 'No tiene capacidad de dejar de mirarse el ombligo'|publisher=El Mostrador|date=11 August 2014|access-date=15 March 2022}}{{Cite web|url=https://radio.uchile.cl/2014/08/07/gaspar-rivas-renuncia-a-renovacion-nacional/|title=Gaspar Rivas renuncia a Renovación Nacional|publisher=Radio Universidad de Chile|date=7 August 2014|access-date=15 March 2022}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.latercera.com/noticia/diputado-gaspar-rivas-renuncio-a-renovacion-nacional-chao-con-rn/|title=Diputado Gaspar Rivas: 'Renuncio a Renovación Nacional. Chao con RN'|publisher=La Tercera|date=7 August 2014|access-date=15 March 2022}}|Social Patriot Movement (2018−2019)|Party of the People
(2021−2024)}}
| alma_mater = {{unbulleted list|University of Chile (BA)}}
| spouse =
| children =
| relatives =
| footnotes =
| partner = Elena Novikova (2014)
| birth_name = Gaspar Alberto Rivas Sánchez
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}Gaspar Alberto Rivas Sánchez (born 17 May 1978) is a Chilean lawyer and politician. Since March 2022, he has been a deputy of the Republic representing District 6 of the Valparaíso Region. He was a member of the Party of the People from 2021 until his expulsion in 2024.
He was a member of the National Renewal party between 2005 and 2014, and between 2010 and 2018 he was a deputy for the old district No. 11 of the Valparaíso Region. He also led the ultranationalist, neofascist, and far-right group Social Patriot Movement from May to October 2019.{{Cite web |last=Morales |first=Julio Cortés |date=2022-09-28 |title=Mapa del «neofascismo» en Chile. Una mirada al Movimiento Social Patriota |url=https://www.ciperchile.cl/2022/09/28/mapa-del-neofascismo-en-chile-una-mirada-al-movimiento-social-patriota/ |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=CIPER Chile |language=es}}
Rivas has declared himself an admirer of Salvadorian president Nayib Bukele, even going as far as to call himself the "Chilean Bukele"{{Cite web |date=2022-08-04 |title=Gaspar Rivas recibe críticas tras autoproclamarse como "El bukele chileno" |url=https://www.infinita.cl/noticias/2022/08/04/gaspar-rivas-bukele-sheriff.html |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Radio Infinita |language=es}} or "The Sheriff of Chile", in reference to Bukele's positions regarding organized crime.{{Cite web |date=2022-08-03 |title=Con una estrella de sheriff en el pecho: Gaspar Rivas (PDG) se proclamó el "Bukele chileno" y se llenó de reacciones en redes |url=https://www.theclinic.cl/2022/08/03/gaspar-rivas-proclamo-bukele-chileno-reacciones-redes/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=The Clinic}}
Early & personal life
Rivas is the son of lawyer Gaspar Rivas Schulz and Virginia Sánchez Zañartu. He completed his basic and secondary education at the Chacabuco Institute in his hometown of Los Andes, in the Valparaíso Region. He then studied at the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile, where he graduated as a lawyer in 2005.{{Cite web |last=Chile |first=BCN Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de |date=2020 |title=Gaspar Alberto Rivas Sánchez. Reseñas biográficas parlamentarias |url=https://www.bcn.cl/historiapolitica/resenas_parlamentarias/wiki/Gaspar_Alberto_Rivas_Sánchez |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=bcn.cl}}
In 2014 he made public his sentimental relationship with the Ukrainian cyclist Elena Novikova,{{Cite web |title=Puranoticia {{!}} Diputado Rivas no aguantó y se trajo a ucraniana que lo enamoró |url=https://www.puranoticia.cl/front/contenido/2014/07/23/106914/diputado-rivas-no-aguanto-y-se-trajo-a-ucraniana-que-lo-enamoro.php |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=www.puranoticia.cl}} who he met through Facebook. Later, he traveled to Kiev to meet the cyclist in person, after which he returned with her to Chile. Their relationship ultimately did not prosper, with the cyclist returning to her country of origin to continue her career.{{Cite web |last=Contreras D. |first=Mario |date=2014-09-27 |title=Diputado Rivas (ex RN): entre su libro sobre la teleserie política y su ruptura amorosa |url=http://www.lasegunda.com/Noticias/Politica/2014/09/965403/Diputado-Rivas-ex-RN--entre-su-libro-sobre-la-teleserie-politica-y-su-ruptura-amorosa |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=La Segunda |language=Spanish}}
Political career
In 2009 he was elected as deputy for the 11th district. In 2012, he resigned from the National Renovation party, due to his disagreements with the board chaired by Carlos Larraín.{{Cite web |last=Cádiz |first=Pablo |date=23 July 2012 |title=Diputado Gaspar Rivas: "Quise dar una señal de rechazo a las insistencias majaderas de la Alianza" |url=http://www.latercera.com/noticia/politica/2012/07/674-473758-9-diputado-gaspar-rivas-quise-dar-una-senal-de-rechazo-a-las-insistencias.shtml |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411072018/http://www.latercera.com/noticia/politica/2012/07/674-473758-9-diputado-gaspar-rivas-quise-dar-una-senal-de-rechazo-a-las-insistencias.shtml |archive-date=11 April 2013 |website=La Tercera}} However, he returned to the party a few months later, and in June 2013 was ratified as the party's candidate for the parliamentary elections that year.{{Cite web |last=Ovalle |first=Francisco |date=20 November 2012 |title=Diputado Gaspar Rivas anuncia reingreso a RN tras renuncia |url=https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/2012/11/20/diputado-gaspar-rivas-anuncia-su-reingreso-a-rn-tras-renuncia.shtml |access-date= |website=Biobio Chile}}
In 2018, he joined the Social Patriot Movement, a nationalist organization often declared by the media as "neo-Nazi", notable for its opposition to the so-called "gender ideology" and globalism.{{Cite web |title=Movilh pide a la ANI y a la Subsecretaría de Prevención del Delito investigar al neonazi Movimiento Social Patriota – Movilh Chile |url=https://www.movilh.cl/movilh-pide-a-la-ani-y-a-la-subsecretaria-de-prevencion-del-delito-investigar-al-neonazi-movimiento-social-patriota/ |access-date=2023-01-31 |language=es}}{{Cite web |date=2019-08-09 |title=El rostro de los activos ultranacionalistas y ultraderechistas |url=https://elsiglo.cl/2019/08/09/el-rostro-de-los-activos-ultranacionalistas-y-ultraderechistas/ |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=El Siglo |language=es}} He was the president of the organization from May to October 2019, but ultimately abandoned it in October 2019 after the 2019 Chilean protests began.{{fact|date=April 2025}}
In mid-2021, Rivas contacted presidential candidate Franco Parisi by telephone to discuss the possibility of competing on the parliamentary list of the Party of the People.{{Cite web |last=Grau |first=Constanza |date=2021-09-10 |title=Cómo Gaspar Rivas hizo match con Parisi y terminó como candidato del Partido de la Gente |url=https://www.latercera.com/la-tercera-pm/noticia/como-gaspar-rivas-hizo-match-con-parisi-y-termino-como-candidato-del-partido-de-la-gente/XZKCBRUWPVDLJCE7PSO6KCIFI4/ |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=La Tercera}} In August of that year, he presented his candidacy for the Chamber of Deputies. of Deputies and Deputies by the District 6 in representation of the party. He was elected in the parliamentary elections with 14,851 votes and assumed office on 11 March 2022.{{fact|date=April 2025}}
Controversies
In April 2016, during a session of the Chamber of Deputies regarding a law about upping police security measures, Rivas referred to businessman Andrónico Lukšić Craig as a "delinquent" and "son of a bitch".{{Cite web |last= |title=Diputado Rivas arremetió contra Luksic en la Cámara Baja: "Es un hijo de puta" |url=https://www.adnradio.cl/politica/2016/04/21/diputado-rivas-arremetio-contra-luksic-en-la-camara-baja-es-un-hijo-de-puta-3113911.html |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=ADN |date=21 April 2016 |language=es}} Lukšić responded to the parliamentarian through a video on YouTube, where he summoned him to deliver the records he had against him to the courts, and analyzed the possibility of initiating legal action for said insults.{{Cite web |date=2016-12-22 |title=Luksic: "Mi gran pecado fue no haber salido antes a explicar que soy un ser humano igual que todos ustedes" – Publimetro |url=http://www.publimetro.cl/nota/cronica/luksic-mi-gran-pecado-fue-no-haber-salido-antes-a-explicar-que-soy-un-ser-humano-igual-que-todos-ustedes/xIQpdy!KsxWHnFKWYNSI/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222114444/http://www.publimetro.cl/nota/cronica/luksic-mi-gran-pecado-fue-no-haber-salido-antes-a-explicar-que-soy-un-ser-humano-igual-que-todos-ustedes/xIQpdy!KsxWHnFKWYNSI/ |archive-date=2016-12-22 |access-date=2022-10-21 }} Rivas did not retract his statements,{{Cite web |last=Bonnefont |first=Josefina |date=2016-04-28 |title=Diputado Gaspar Rivas: "Podría haber dicho que era un culiao, pero se hubiera defendido diciendo 'nadie me ha fornicado'" |url=https://www.theclinic.cl/2016/04/28/diputado-gaspar-rivas-podria-haber-dicho-que-era-un-culiao-pero-se-hubiera-defendido-diciendo-nadie-me-ha-fornicado/ |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=The Clinic |language=es}} for which Lukšić sued for insults against the deputy in May of that year,{{Cite web |date=2016-12-22 |title=Andrónico Luksic presenta querella por injurias contra diputado Gaspar Rivas – Publimetro |url=http://www.publimetro.cl/nota/cronica/andronico-luksic-presenta-querella-por-injurias-contra-diputado-gaspar-rivas/xIQpec!Ea9t2zO2aNl2c/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222121259/http://www.publimetro.cl/nota/cronica/andronico-luksic-presenta-querella-por-injurias-contra-diputado-gaspar-rivas/xIQpec!Ea9t2zO2aNl2c/ |archive-date=2016-12-22 |access-date=2022-10-21 }} and in July the Court of Appeals of Santiago confirmed Rivas's immunity to face trial.{{Cite web |last=Mostrador |first=El |date=2016-07-22 |title=Desaforado Gaspar Rivas para enfrentar querella de Andrónico Luksic |url=https://www.elmostrador.cl/noticias/pais/2016/07/22/desaforado-gaspar-rivas-para-enfrentar-querella-de-andronico-luksic/ |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=El Mostrador |language=es}} On 19 December of the same year, the oral trial for the case began in the Justice Center of Santiago, occasion in which Lukšić was rebuked and attacked by protesters.{{Cite web |date=2016-12-20 |title=Manifestantes de No Alto Maipo agreden a Andrónico Luksic |work=Terra |url=https://noticias.terra.cl/chile/manifestantes-de-no-alto-maipo-agreden-a-andronico-luksic,5a04078b923da5e5a221e5dc8c62403cj4j1bt0f.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220234623/https://noticias.terra.cl/chile/manifestantes-de-no-alto-maipo-agreden-a-andronico-luksic,5a04078b923da5e5a221e5dc8c62403cj4j1bt0f.html |archive-date=2016-12-20 |access-date=2022-10-21 }} On 28 December of that year, a sentence was issued, sentencing Rivas to 180 days of probation (which disabled him from exercising his parliamentary office) and the payment of a fine of 40 UTM (equivalent to about 2,400,000 CLP or 2.500 USD at the time).{{Cite web |last=Álvarez |first=R. |date=2016-12-28 |title=Gaspar Rivas es condenado a 180 días de pena remitida por injurias graves contra Luksic |url=https://www.latercera.com/noticia/tribunal-da-conocer-sententencia-gaspar-rivas-injurias-graves/ |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=La Tercera}}
In 2023, he was temporarily expelled from the Party of the People due to getting into conflicts and commonly insulting his peers, but this expulsion was later repealed.{{Cite web |date=2023-03-14 |title=Tribunal Supremo del PDG revoca expulsión de diputado Gaspar Rivas por escándalos en el Congreso |url=https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/nacional/chile/2023/03/14/tribunal-supremo-del-pdg-revoca-expulsion-de-diputados-gaspar-rivas-por-escandalos-en-el-congreso.shtml |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=BioBioChile - La Red de Prensa Más Grande de Chile |language=es}}
Ideology
Although Gaspar Rivas identifies with the Chilean right-wing in social values, he has been described as being more left-leaning in economic issues, advocating for a reform to the country's retirement pensions system and the nationalization of copper, Chile's main export.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2014-05-19 |title=Cómo vivió el RN Gaspar Rivas la marcha estudiantil |url=http://www.lasegunda.com/Noticias/Impreso/2014/05/933842/como-vivio-el-rn-gaspar-rivas-la-marcha |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=La Segunda |language=es-CL}} He has also advocated for reforming the Chilean education system, notably participating in the popularly-dubbed Penguin Revolution, even skipping congress to attend protests and rallies, even accompanying then-student leader and deputy Gabriel Boric, who would later become President of the Republic. He has also advocated for replacing the Chilean Constitution of 1980, established during a military dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet.{{Cite web |last=24horas |title=Las situaciones más polémicas protagonizadas por el diputado Gaspar Rivas |url=https://www.24horas.cl/politica/las-situaciones-mas-polemicas-protagonizadas-por-el-diputado-gaspar-rivas-1997639 |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=www.24horas.cl |language=es-CL}}
A self-declared nationalist, he criticized the Chilean government for not "paying attention" to issues surrounding the indigenous Mapuche population,{{Cite web |last=González |first=Tania |date=2016-11-30 |title=Comunidades indígenas inician diálogos para formar Gobierno de La Araucanía « Diario y Radio Universidad Chile |url=https://radio.uchile.cl/2016/11/30/comunidades-indigenas-inician-dialogos-para-formar-gobierno-de-la-araucania/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Radio Universidad de Chile |language=es}} such as returning territories to their tribes, which he has advocated for.{{Cite web |date=2016-04-21 |title=VIDEO {{!}} El desenfrenado discurso del diputado Rivas contra Luksic: "Eres un hijo de puta" |url=https://www.eldinamo.cl/pais/2016/04/21/video-el-desenfrenado-discurso-del-diputado-rivas-contra-luksic-que-lo-mando-a-la-comision-de-etica/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=El Dínamo |language=es}} He has also supported a higher crackdown on illegal immigration and organized crime within his country, and the reintroduction of the death penalty.{{Cite web |last=ADN |title=Gaspar Rivas defiende la pena de muerte: la evidencia que omite el diputado del PDG |url=https://www.adnradio.cl/politica/2022/07/18/video-del-diputado-gaspar-rivas-en-el-que-defiende-la-pena-de-muerte-se-vuelve-viral.html |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=ADN |date=18 July 2022 |language=es}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Twitter|GasparRivas}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivas, Gaspar}}
Category:National Renewal (Chile) politicians
Category:Party of the People (Chile) politicians
Category:University of Chile alumni
Category:Deputies of the LIII Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile
Category:Deputies of the LIV Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile
Category:Deputies of the LVI Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile