SANTIAGO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd July, 2020) Angela Jeria � a prominent figure in Chile's political and cultural life, an archaeologist, and the mother of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet � died at the age of 93, the lower chamber of the Chilean parliament said.
According to the Chamber of Deputies, Jeria died on Thursday morning in a hospital of the country's Air Force.
"Chamber of Deputies President Diego Paulsen extends his condolences over the death of Angela Jeria Gomez," the chamber said in a press release.
Paulsen has extended condolences to Bachelet, who was in Geneva when her mother died, and other relatives of Jeria, the press release read on. He has also invited lawmakers to join him in observing a minute of silence to honor Jeria's memory.
Jeria was admitted to a military hospital in the Chilean capital of Santiago earlier this week in grave condition. Her diagnosis remains unknown. According to Chilean media, Bachelet was due to leave for Santiago soon.
Jeria worked for the University of Chile until 1973, when Augusto Pinochet came to power. As Pinochet's regime accused Jeria's husband, Alberto Bachelet, of being loyal to ousted President Salvador Allende, Bachelet was imprisoned and later died in jail of a heart disease after months of being tortured. Jeria and her daughter were also detained, tortured and then expelled from the country. They lived in Australia, Germany and the Soviet Union before returning to Chile in 1979.
In 2006, Bachelet became the first ever woman to be elected president of Chile. She headed the country during two terms, between 2006-2010 and between 2014-2018, before replacing Zeid Raad Al Hussein as the UN commissioner for human rights. During Bachelet's first presidential term, Jeria informally exercised the functions of the first lady.
