Former general secretary of the Chilean Communist Party Luis Corvalan died on Wednesday at the age of 94, the Chilean media reported.
Luis Alberto Corvalan Lepe was born in 1916. In 1932, shortly after the fall of Carlos Ibanez del Campo repressive dictatorship he joined the Communist Party of Chile.
From 1948 to 1958 the Communist party was considered illegal in Chile. During that time, Corvalan was jailed in the concentration camps of Pitrufquen and later in Pisagua. Since 1958 he served as the party's Secretary General.
Corvalan was arrested in 1973 in General Augusto Pinochet's military coup as he opposed Pinochet's regime. During his imprisonment Corvalan was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize. Three years later the Soviet Union launched a campaign for a release of Corvalan. In exchange Moscow released dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, who was in prison for "anti-Soviet propaganda."
Corvalan lead the party even being in exile. After the end of Pinochet's dictatorship, he stepped down as the Communist party leader at the age of 73 and returned back to Chile in 1989.
He spent the remaining years of his life in the Chilean capital, Santiago, writing memoirs.
MOSCOW, July 22 (RIA Novosti)
