Ena von Baer

Ena von Baer
Ena von Baer
Minister Secretary-General of Government
In office 11 March 2010 – 18 July 2011
Preceded by	Pilar Armanet
Succeeded by	Andrés Chadwick Piñera
Senator
Incumbent
Assumed office July 2011
Preceded by	Pablo Longueira
Personal details
Born	28 November 1974 Temuco, Chile
Nationality	Chilean
Political party	Independent Democrat Union (UDI)
Spouse(s)	Eduardo Fröhlich
Children	Clara & Ian
Alma mater	Pontifical Catholic University of Chile University of Aachen, Germany
Occupation	Journalist, Political scientist, Politician
Religion	Lutheranism
Website	Pinera2010.cl

Ena Anglein von Baer Jahn (born 28 November 1974 in Temuco) is a Chilean journalist, political scientist and senator.

In December 2009, von Baer lost a very tight race for a seat in the Senate. In March 2010 she became Minister Secretary-General of Government. In July 2011 she was designated senator, replacing Pablo Longueira, who left the senate to become Minister of Economy.

Prior to her work in the government, von Baer was a panelist on a televised political show and worked for the right-wing think-tank Instituto Libertad y Desarrollo.

Biography

Born in the Araucanía Region of Chile to biological-geneticist Erik von Baer and Helga Jahn, Ena von Baer was raised between the towns of Cajón, Gorbea, and Temuco. She is the third of four sisters; they others are Ingrid, Karina, and Sybille. Their German-born father arrived in Chile as a child with his parents after World War II. The von Baer family is credited for support of agriculture in the Arauco Province.

Ena von Baer studied at Temuco's German school, the Colegio Alemán de Temuco. She moved to Santiago in 1994 to study journalism at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. In 1998, she married Eduardo Frohlich, a civil engineer with whom she has two children. After her marriage, she traveled to Germany to pursue a master's degree and a doctorate in political science from the University of Aachen.

Upon her return to Chile in 2002, von Baer worked as researcher for the political science department at the Liberty & Development Institute (Instituto Libertad y Desarrollo or LyD). She then served as the Academic Director of the School of Government in the Adolfo Ibáñez University, a position which she later abandoned in order to return to LyD as Director of its Social and Political Program. She dedicated her work to research into political systems and electoral studies, and to developing social politics related to poverty and indigenous peoples. She also worked as a legislative advisor, especially in the subject of automatic electoral enrollment and voluntary vote. During the same time, she was a professor at the Faculty of Government at the University for Development and a panelist on a program of Televisión Nacional de Chile, Estado Nacional.

Political career

Although von Baer has had no formal political career and is not involved with any particular political party, she accepted to run as senator representing her native region, and for which she was supported by the Independent Democratic Union (UDI). She lost the seat by a narrow margin to José García Ruminot of the National Renewal Party (RN). After her defeat, she was campaign spokeswoman for Sebastián Piñera's presidential runoff race. She had previously worked as academic of Piñera's government program as part of the so-called Grupos Tantauco.

On 9 February 2010, Piñera named von Baer as Minister Secretary-General of Government. She took office on 11 March 2010. At the president's request, she resigned in July, 2011. A few days later, she was designated as senator.

In 2011 von Baer was used as an example of someone in the government with family members who have acquired the patents for crops and will benefit from the privatisation of seed.

Bibliography

• Von Baer, Ena - Die Rolle der Vergangenheitsbewältigung im Systemwechsel (Fallbeispiel Chile); Vdm Verlag Dr. Müller; 2007 - ISBN 3-8364-2618-8 (published in German)

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons