Petitio Principii

This essay contains my personal and professional life interests at the moment I decided to open this BLOG.

In order to understand my present motivations it is fundamental to recall the social and economical environment that surrounded my life and education in Chile and the formidable transformations of this same country during the past 30 years. In this sense, my primary perspectives were intuitively determined by the cultural and political events that occurred in Chile in the aforesaid period, namely: the free election of the “socialist” President Salvador Allende in 1970 until the coup d'état of 1973; the “neoliberal” dictatorship of President Augusto Pinochet as from 1973 until 1989; the democratic governments of the coalition who have ruled Chile as from 1990 until 2005, with the actual “progressist” president Ricardo Lagos. During the period comprising the free election of the socialist government, the interim period of dictatorship and the subsequent recovery of the democracy in 1990, I had the opportunity of living at different moments in Chile, Brazil, Sweden, Austria, The Netherlands and in Germany. These travels, have granted me an invaluable possibility of enlarging my multicultural focus and of modeling my global perspective, which has given me a stimulus to learn and collaborate with an ample vision.

The process of opening the senses to become internationally aware, which Chileans metaphorically explain as “flying across the top of the Andes Mountains”, has always been a target of my education and a life goal. Furthermore, the will to apply in a practical manner this global awareness, within my professional field of knowledge in economy and international taxation, is one of my utmost deep personal aspirations in order to help my family, my local community, my country and the world. As a result of being exposed to multicultural experiences, starting from my education and later practice in privileged academic and professional institutions in Europe, I have been able to constantly reassess the scope of my interests from an emotional, intellectual and spiritual point of view. First, I have been able to reconsider both intellectually and emotionally the historical processes that have occurred in my birth country and analyze how these local economical and social events have had a direct correlation with the context of the world’s history, especially within the 33 years of my life. In fact, although an isolated land, Chile has been a country that in many respects has historically resembled and even anticipated many social and economical movements of the world. Second, it has been very enlightening to discover that Chile, although a developing nation, has been able to overcome the turmoil, continue to grow, rebuild and develop an integration policy with the international community. It is important to underline that even this country is considered today as a paradigm of new applications in many social and economic developments; as for example, the Chilean pension reform, which has become a study model to try to solve that time bomb problem of present western economies, triggered by the increasing of life expectancy and the problem of generation of resources for maintaining older people active and healthy. Third, on the other side, as one of the most interesting mirror effects, although embedded in a neo liberal legal and economic framework, the country has increasing challenges with respect to equitable distribution of its resources, in order to obtain more social cohesion, considering that the rate of inequitable distribution of the inland product is one of the most regressive in the world . In fact, at the moment this is the central discussion topic as the new Presidential campaign arises between two distinguished coalition women candidates and one right wing opposition candidate: economic growth with equitable distribution. Moreover, this topic is perfectly in line with my personal precognitions and the present discussions held at the World Forum at a global level, namely: the procurement of responsible allocation of investment resources to produce growth and positive social impact and the role of the government in finding an equitable balance between private and public protection of economic interests.

As direct link to the aforementioned ideas, the specific issues I would like to deal with in the following years of my life are also driven by the many other queries that I have in the area of economics, investment, taxes, public administration, environment, migration and related areas which are crucial for developing countries. These ideas have been depurated through my international academic and professional experiences. First, I am deeply interested in participating in the tremendous debate concerning environmental issues and the design of regulatory frameworks to guide decisions of investment that produce positive externalities for the present and future generations. In this sense, countries of South America such as Columbia (biodiversity resources), Venezuela (oil resources) Bolivia (gas resources), Brazil (forest, mining, fishing resources), Chile (forest, mining and fishing resources), Argentina (gas, mining and fishing resources) are particularly important. I sustain that there is a need to deal globally with the trans generational problems derived from northern hemisphere business decisions that pressure the scarce natural resources located in the southern hemisphere and that an agreement must be fostered as the only rational business choice for entrepreneurs and governments. Second, the need to fight against overt and covert corruption of private and public entities and institutions in developed and developing countries in South America, Africa and Asia. This comprises the development and enforcement of good governance practices, which are sound with the values of transparency, integrity and responsibility both at the level of individuals, corporations and public institutions. Third, the power of creating and enhancing new technologies for providing access to education in developing countries. This would clearly stimulate development and also help to counter act inequalities, discrimination and poverty. Fourth, the need to increase the awareness of the exposure of human beings to potential disaster situations and the coordination of international efforts in order to make disaster relief possible and recovery of affected persons faster both in material and spiritual point of view. This topic is particular relevant for Latin American Countries which cyclically are exposed to earthquakes, volcanoes, tornados, floods, avalanches and radical unexpected disasters due to the changes in the world climate.

I envision that during the next years I will continue to struggle with the hereinabove issues, both from a local and global perspective. Presently, my opportunities of learning and working are being stimulated from studying in an environment where one is surrounded by people from many cultures and ethnicities and because of the technological tools available to enhance the course work. Thus, I regard on the next years I will struggle to integrate my professional areas of interest with my personal believes and dreams of a better human mankind.

My Life in a Nutshell

I was born in Santiago, Chile in 1971.

My parents are professionals and they both studied at the University of Chile, which is the oldest and most prestigious university in this country, providing its students with a liberal, secular education. My father studied law and graduated with full honors. He decided to work in his private practice, providing mainly civil and commercial legal advice to his clients. In addition, he joined the State Defense Council, which is a state institution responsible for the legal defense of the interests of the country. My mother studied painting and theater design and also graduated with full honors. After graduating, she was engaged into theater productions and latter established an Atelier for painting where she currently works in art, sculpture and organizing performances along with other Chilean artists.

Between 1977 and 1989 I studied at Santiago College for my primary and secondary education. This school was founded in the nineteenth century by American immigrants and is one of the oldest and most prestigious educational institutions in Chile for the formation of bilingual students. Pupils here receive a liberal education with a multicultural focus, in accordance with traditional judeo-christian educational ideals. During my primary education, I received very good grades, which many times led me to be honored as one of the best students of my class. During the last 2 years of high school education (1988-1989), I followed the special diploma program of the International Baccalaureate. I received a grade of 7 on the international exams for Contemporary History and Philosophy. Moreover, during my entire secondary education (1986-1989) my average grade was a 6.5. (the highest grade possible on the scale is a 7).

In 1990, I began to study Law at the University of Chile and I finished my course work in 1995. I was always a good student and while studying at the university I was always especially interested in economics, accounting and tax law. When I finished my studies I took a one year course to specialize in Business Tax Law taught by well known lawyers and specialists from the international consulting company Arthur Andersen, Chile. Then, in 1996, I took my final university oral exam and passed with two votes of distinction, the equivalent to a grade of 6. In 1998 I did my thesis on “A Practical Analysis of Taxation on Chilean Corporations” which received a grade of 7 on its first submission. Finally, in 1999 I received my Law Degree which combined all my past university education grades with full honors (summa cum laude).

In 1995 I was invited by the Department of International Public Law of the University of Chile to participate in the “Phillip Jessup Law Moot Competition” as a representative of Chile, together with other colleagues. The activity required extensive preparation in public international law, international environmental law and economics and was held in the United States. My involvement in this event consisted in preparing the “defendant” and “applicant” documents and participating in the oral arguments before the International Court Judges.

In 1996 I was invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to participate in the International Conference, “Edunet”, as a representative of the University of Chile for the launching of the first virtual university in the world through Internet. On this occasion I gave a speech via teleconference together with university students from Australia, Japan, United States and Philippines for the Secretaries of State of all the countries participating in the 1996 APEC Countries Summit held in Manila, Philippines. The Conference counted with the assistance of the Ministries and Presidents of most Asian Pacific Economies.

In 1997 I joined the University of Chile’s Economic and Law Department as assistant professor for the first, second and fourth years, respectively, of the Law Career Program. I continued until 2000, when I was finally awarded the title of instructor professor, after winning the university public contest. In this position I have taught Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and Corporate and Personal Taxation to classes of average 100 students.

Also in 1997, I took a post-graduate course equivalent to a Master in Business Administration with focus in Financial and Accounting Analysis at the University of Chile’s School of Economics and Business Administration. This post graduate course lasted one year and focused on administration, accounting, financial and tax analyses for businesses. In addition, we were taught both theory and its applications in areas such as Total Quality and Business Management. I received the second highest grade in the class and graduated with honors.

In 1996- 1998 I was hired as a legal advisor by the largest law firm in Chile, Carey y Cía. Ltda. Here, with other lawyers, I helped create the company’s Tax Department. My job consisted in advising clients in tax law, accounting and financial matters. The clients were both Chilean and international companies with business interests in the United States, Europe and all of South America. Furthermore, during this period I also worked for the Ministry of Finances as an external legal advisor on tax law reforms in Chile. As lawyer I was also required to publish some interesting legal material such as: “Chilean Chapter on Taxes Applicable to Mergers and Acquisitions, for the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD)” and “Chilean Chapter on Legal Issues concerning Year 2000 Problems”, for 1998 PRAC Country Summit (Pacific Rim Advisory Council) held in Buenos Aires Argentina.

In 1999 I was hired as a specialist in tax and corporate law for the legal firm named Grasty & Co. specialized in corporate and business law. My work consisted in advising clients on corporate and tax law together with aspects concerning telecommunications, internet technologies and intellectual property.

In 2001 I was hired by the international firm Deloitte & Touche as senior lawyer for the Tax and Legal Department. I continued to grant consultancies to businesses in aspects related to tax, accounting and project finances.

In 2002 I decided to continue my education in Europe and successfully entered and completed a Master (LLM) in International Taxation in Vienna, under the supervision of Dr. Prof. Michael Lang.

Following an International Public Contest at the end of 2002, I was appointed by the International Scientific Committee of IFA (International Fiscal Association), as International Associate Researcher, for the period 2003 and 2004. In this position I worked under the supervision of Dr. Prof. Kees Van Raad (Netherlands) and Dr. Prof. Frederik Zimmer (Norway) in different international projects concerning international taxes within the scope of Europe China and other development countries, at the premises of the IBFD (International Bureau of Fiscal Association), Amsterdam.

In 2005 I presented a study project concerning Intellectual Property and Research and Development Expenditures at the Max Planck Institute of International Taxes with seat in München. To fund these activities I obtained a scholarship from Max Planck Institute and a complementary scholarship from the World Bank. The course work was completed in 2008 under the supervision of Dr. Prof. Wolfgang Schön. The Ph.D. title will be awarded by the Ludwig Maximillians University, in Munchen.

In 2009 the International Fiscal Association (IFA) awarded the Wolfgang Gassner Price to my Ph. D. Work concerning International Taxation Features of Research & Development and Innovation Fiscal Incentive Provisions. The price was delivered by the Jury in Vienna by the Austrian IFA Branch.

During 2005 and 2009 I participated in various academic activities in representation of Max Planck Institute at the OECD, UN, World Forum and at the EU Parliament. I also acted as visiting profesor at the University of Torino (Faculty of Economy) and at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil (Faculty of Law) and at the University Adolfo Ibañez in Chile.


In addition to my work as academic and lawyer, I have also studied both classical and jazz music. After eight years of study, I received a Degree in Music, specializing in flute interpretation, from the Modern School of Music of Santiago. Afterwards, I decided to continue specializing in the field of Classical and Jazz Music and was accepted to continue studies in the Royal Conservatory in the The Hague, Holland, where I continued my studies with Wilbert Hazelzet (traverso) and Rob van Babel (Piano) during four semesters. Finally, I graduated at the Gasteig Conservatory of Music in Munich, Germany as Teacher. I complement at present both knowledges of Classical and Popular Music by participating in Concerts with different ensembles in Europe.

As integral part of life I continue to practice sports, specially skying in winter, surfing, table tennis, squash, raquetball, beach volley, football and karate okinawan goyu ryu, were I have the 1 kyu after 10 years of practice. I have also participated in seminars and courses in Europe teaching Salsa (Mambo on 2) and Tango as instructor.

Lastly, my work as lawyer and education has been greatly facilitated thanks to my knowledge of Spanish, Portuguese and English as primary languages and afterwards by studying German, French and Italian as secondary learned languages, all of them I also manage both written and spoken. Besides, I have also gained knowledge of Dutch and Swedish.