Bachelet Jeria, Michelle (1951–)

Michelle Verónica Bachelet, born on September 29, 1951, is the current president of Chile and the first woman to hold this position in Chile. Bachelet, candidate of the Coalition of Parties for Democracy, was sworn in as president of the Republic of Chile on March 11, 2006. In 2006 Bachelet, a surgeon and pediatrician, won the election in a runoff, beating center-right candidate Sebastián Piñera.

Michelle Bachelet, daughter of Air Force brigadier Alberto Bachelet Martínez, who was tortured and killed by the Pinochet regime, was exiled in 1975. Together with her mother she moved to the German Democratic Republic where she studied medicine at Humboldt University of Berlin. During her exile Bachelet got married and her first son, Sebastián, was born.

In 1979 Bachelet returned to Chile, ...