Luis Corvalán

Luis Nicolás Corvalán Lepe (14 September 1916 – 21 July 2010) was a Chilean politician, teacher, and writer. He was the general secretary of the Communist Party of Chile (PCCh) for more than three decades and was twice elected to the Senate of Chile.

Corvalán was detained by the Government Junta following the 1973 Chilean coup d'etat. The USSR worked relentlessly for Corvalán's freedom, preparing plans for a military strike against Chile to rescue him, and orchestrating an international pressure campaign aimed at securing his parole. In 1976, the junta released Corvalán in exchange for the freedom of the Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, with the prisoner swap occurring in Switzerland. He later underwent plastic surgery to disguise his features before secretly returning to Chile to help organize opposition to the presidency of Augusto Pinochet.

Corvalán was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union, and was invested into the Order of Klement Gottwald by the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Order of Karl Marx by the German Democratic Republic (GDR). He was also featured on a GDR postage stamp and is remembered in the lyrics to "Was wollen wir trinken" by the folk band Oktoberklub. Corvalán's son, Luís Alberto, was severely wounded during torture by the military and later died, reportedly of complications from his injuries.