Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Chillán, Ñuble Region, Chile
About José Tohá
- José Tohá González (February 6, 1927 – March 15, 1974) was a Chilean journalist, lawyer, political figure, and Socialist politician. He was born in Chillán, the son of Spanish immigrant José Tohá Soldavilla and of Brunilda González Monteagudo.
- After completing his secondary studies in his natal city, he studied law at the Universidad de Chile.
- While there he was president of the student federation between 1950-51.
- In 1958 he joined the staff of the Última Hora newspaper, and in 1960 he became its editor and majority owner, a position he held until 1970.
- He married Raquel Victoria Morales Etchevers (known as Moy de Tohá) in 1963, with whom he had two children: Carolina and José. In 1942 Tohá joined the Chilean Socialist Party (PS), while still in high school.
- He rose to member of its central committee.
- As the first democratically elected socialist president, President Salvador Allende named him his first Minister of the Interior and vice president, a position he held until he was cited by Congress accused of tolerating the creation of left-wing paramilitary organizations.
- Allende responded by naming him Minister of Defense, a deliberate challenge to his right wing detractors.
- As such, he had to deal with the Tanquetazo putsch, the first attempt at a military led coup d'état.
- During the coup d'état of September 11, 1973, he was seized and arrested at La Moneda, where he had gone to support the defense of the democratic administration.
- He was held in different concentration camps suffering severe torture: first at the Military Academy; later he was sent for 8 months to a political prison in Dawson Island and from there he was transferred to the basement of the Air Force War Academy.
- On February 1, 1974, Tohá was moved to room 303 at the Military Hospital in Santiago in a precarious state of health, suffering from acute attack of gastric ulcers.
- He recovered slightly and was able to share a few minutes with his wife and children on his 47th birthday on February 6.
- Despite his poor health, the military officers continued harassing him with endless torture and interrogation sessions.
- His physical state deteriorated, his weight dropped precipitously and he lost his eyesight.
- He could no longer walk nor take care of himself.
- The further interrogations in the Air Force’s War Academy only worsened his condition.
- On March 15, at 12.55, he was found hanged inside the clothes closet of his hospital room.
- The official explanation was that he had committed suicide in the grip of a very strong nervous depression, with psycho-somatic effects.
- The family has never accepted that version and still claims he was murdered.
- After Chile regained democracy, it was determined that he died as a result of torture. After his death, his wife and children lived in exile in Mexico City for several years.
- His family returned to Chile in the early 80's where his wife worked in the resistance to the Pinochet dictatorship.
- After Democracy was regained in 1990; his wife, Moy de Tohá, served as Cultural Attaché in Mexico and as an Ambassador to Honduras and El Salvador.
- His daughter, Carolina, studied law in The University of Chile and went on to obtain a Ph.D.
- in Political Science in Milan, Italy.
- She is currently serving her second term as a Congresswoman representing Santiago and was elected mayor of Santiago Centro October 28, 2012.
- His son, José Tohá obtained undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture in the United States, where he founded an architecture office.
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