Arturo Matte

In 1952, Arturo Matte Larraín ran for president of Chile as the candidate of the Liberal Party and the political right. He won about 28 percent of the vote and finished second to the former military ruler Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, who returned to power on a populist wave. Matte, a lawyer, banker and industrialist, came from one of Chile's most powerful business families, and he was married to the daughter of a former president.

He was born on June 5, 1893, in Santiago, in the afternoon, according to the time kept in astrological records. His Sun is in Gemini, with Mercury, Neptune and Pluto also in Gemini, all in the eighth house, which governs investment and other people's money. The eighth house is associated with finance and corporate wealth, and a Gemini cluster there describes someone skilled at managing capital and negotiating deals. Matte co-founded, with his brother Luis, major industrial companies, including the steelmaker Compañía de Acero del Pacífico and the paper company CMPC.

With Libra on the Ascendant, he presented a diplomatic, polished and conciliatory manner, and Uranus, retrograde in Scorpio, sits in the first house, adding an independent streak.

Jupiter in Taurus occupies the seventh house, where marriage is read. Jupiter there describes good fortune through marriage, and in 1918 Matte married Esther Alessandri Rodríguez, daughter of Arturo Alessandri Palma, who served twice as president of Chile. The family connection placed him at the heart of Chilean political life; his brother-in-law, Jorge Alessandri, would later become president as well.

Mars in Cancer sits in the tenth house, the sector of public office. Mars there describes ambition directed toward public service and protection of one's own. He served as mayor of Buin, near Santiago, from 1918 to 1923, as finance minister under President Juan Antonio Ríos from 1943 to 1944, and as a senator for Santiago from 1951 to 1957, taking the seat left vacant by his father-in-law's death.

His Moon is in Aquarius in the fifth house, describing an independent, somewhat detached emotional nature, and Venus in Gemini, in his ninth house, suggests a cultivated, cosmopolitan outlook. He studied at the German School in Santiago and earned a law degree from the University of Chile in 1916.

Saturn, retrograde in Libra, lies in his twelfth house, describing setbacks faced behind the scenes. His 1952 presidential defeat ended his hopes of the presidency, though he remained influential in business. He also managed a large estate near Chillán.

He died in Santiago on April 9, 1980, at eighty-six. The Gemini planets in his eighth house made him a financier; the Jupiter in his seventh house tied his fortunes to a political dynasty.