The Grand Lodge Of Chile is the only regular Masonic organization on Chilean territory. There are 200 Lodges that work under its obedience, of which 194 practice the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, two practice the York Rite and four practice the Schröder Rite. Through agreements with friendly Masonic powers, it authorizes the work of six regular foreign Lodges. It respects to the letter the source traditions of Masonic Law and inspires the formulation of its laws in the Ancient Boundaries, the Ancient Mores and Customs of the Brotherhood, and the Anderson Constitution of 1723. It performs its work Chilean Masons have placed in the history of the country, as advocates of political independence at the beginning of the 19th Century, in the establishment of the Republic foundations and the promotion of political, economic and social development until the present day. More than 20 Presidents of the Republic have belonged to Masonry. One of the Masonry and Mason's favorite fields service is education. Masons were founders of the main educational and cultural institutions in the nation. Lodges of the country support some 20 elementary and high schools, and the Grand Lodge founded the Universidad La República, which celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2003. The Grand Lodge was founded May 24, 1862, in the port city of Valparaíso, recently named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. In 1906 an earthquake destroyed the Grand Lodge building and its archives and as a result it was re-established in Santiago. In 1925, President Arturo Alessandri Palma, a Mason, managed to change the Political Constitution of 1833; the most important of the changes made was the nominal separation of Church and State. However, the most significant achievement of masonry was their campaign to pass the Mandatory Elementary School Act in 1920. From 1920, and for the next four decades, the Republic of Chile had five Masons as Presidents, which resulted in economical and educational development as well as avant-garde welfare legislation. Another important achievement was the foundation of the Grand Lodge of Bolivia with the attendance of seven Chilean lodges, in April 1930. In the time leading up to the Second World War, asylum in Valparaíso was granted to the Grand Lodge of Hamburg which was proscribed in its country. In 1947, the Grand Lodges of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay founded in Montevideo the Inter-American Masonic Confederation (IMC), which today includes most of the regular Grand Lodges of Latin America, Spain and France. Today, the IMC has held 19 Grand Assemblies. In 1998, the Jorge Carvajal Muñoz was elected Grand Master for the term 1998-2002 and in 2002 was re-elected until 2006. He is also chancellor of the Universidad La República, which was founded by the Masons. While in this position, Mr. Carvajal assumed the Presidency of the IMC until the year 2000; he has presided over the IMC Sixth Zone until now; he set up the electronic mail communication between the Higher Government and the Lodges; he has served in a wide range of Masonic teaching roles; he organized and presided over the Fourth National Masonic Convent; he implemented the Strategic National Plan "Masonry 2000"; founded the Lay Institute of Contemporary Studies in 1999; in 2002 the Grand Lodge of Chile celebrated its 140th anniversary in the country; he played an outstanding and significant role on the human rights missing prisoners issue and in favour of national agreement in the so-called Round Table Discussion; he is a member of the Preparatory Commission appointed by the President of the Republic, of Chile's Bicentennial Celebrations. He has brought the Order to 200 Lodges and nine Triangles. His participation in the VI World Conference of Grand Lodges of the in New Delhi enabled him to ensure the job of organizing the VII World Conference in Santiago, Chile, to be held in May 2004.