 After four years, he resigned to pursue a master in Economic Development in the United States at the Center for Development Economics of the Williams College in Massachusetts.He returned to Chile in 1969, and was soon elected as a representative (member of the Chamber of Deputies) for the province of Arauco (1969–1973) with the support of the PDC (Chilean Christian Democrat Party).He was reelected in 1973, but his tenure was soon interrupted by the military coup against the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende.