Juan Carlos Muñoz Abogabir (born 22 June 1970) is a Chilean civil engineer, academic, and former government minister. He served as Minister of Transport and Telecommunications under President Gabriel Boric from 2022 to 2026. He has been a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and specializes in public transportation, traffic, logistics, and bus rapid transit. He also directed the Centre for Sustainable Urban Development (CEDEUS).

Early life and education Muñoz was born in Viña del Mar, Chile, on 22 June 1970. He is the son of Juan Carlos Muñoz Frías and María Ximena Abogabir Scott. He attended Craighouse School in Lo Barnechea, Santiago.

He studied civil engineering at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where he later also earned a master's degree in engineering. He subsequently studied at the University of California, Berkeley, earning an M.S. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2002.

Muñoz has described his maternal family as having Palestinian roots, with his Abogabir ancestors originating in Bethlehem.

Academic and professional career Muñoz joined the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile as an academic in 1995 and became a full professor in its Department of Transport and Logistics Engineering. His research has focused on public transportation, transportation networks, traffic modeling, logistics, and operations research. He has co-authored more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has participated in scientific committees and editorial boards in the field of transportation.

He founded and directed the international Bus Rapid Transit Centre of Excellence, established with funding from the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations, and was a director of the Centre for Sustainable Urban Development (CEDEUS), a research center jointly associated with the PUC and the University of Concepción. He also served as the first director of the PUC's Institute for Sustainable Development.

Muñoz was an adviser to Minister of Transport and Telecommunications Javier Etcheberry in 2003 and 2004 during the design of the Transantiago public transport plan. In 2008, he served on a ministry-appointed committee of experts tasked with proposing improvements to the project. He subsequently served on the board of Metro de Valparaíso from 2007 to 2010 and as an adviser to the president of Metro de Santiago during the same period. From March 2014 to March 2017, he was a director of Metro de Santiago and an adviser to the Metropolitan Public Transport Directorate.

During the second presidency of Sebastián Piñera, Muñoz served on the Scientific Committee on Climate Change of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation. He also participated in international scientific committees concerning public transportation and transportation theory.

He co-edited, with Laurel Paget-Seekins, the book Restructuring Public Transport through Bus Rapid Transit: An International and Interdisciplinary Perspective, published in 2016 by Policy Press. The book examines bus rapid transit as a means of restructuring urban public transportation systems.

In 2024, he was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Alumni of UC Berkeley's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in recognition of his contributions to transportation research and public service.

Minister of Transport and Telecommunications On 21 January 2022, then president-elect Gabriel Boric appointed Muñoz as Minister of Transport and Telecommunications. He assumed office on 11 March 2022.

During his tenure, the government expanded the electrification of Santiago's public bus system. In July 2023, the city surpassed 2,000 electric buses, representing 31% of its public bus fleet at the time, making Santiago the city outside China with the largest number of electric buses. In August 2023, Muñoz and Energy Minister Diego Pardow presented a national electromobility roadmap containing measures intended to expand electric mobility through 2026.

The ministry also introduced new electric buses, including double-decker buses, into the Red Movilidad system. In 2025, the system began a major fleet-renewal program intended to add 1,800 electric buses by March 2026; by November 2025, 3,544 electric buses were in operation, representing 55% of the fleet.

His tenure also included the expansion of passenger rail services under the government's Trenes para Chile program. In January 2025, a trial service between Llanquihue and Puerto Montt marked the return of passenger rail service to Puerto Montt after an 18-year absence, and regular service began later that year. In November 2025, construction began on the Alameda–Melipilla railway, a 61-kilometer line with 11 stations serving eight municipalities in the Santiago Metropolitan Region.

The ministry also oversaw changes in the composition of the Red Movilidad workforce. By December 2025, 2,323 women were working as bus drivers in the system, an increase of 142% from March 2022, following the implementation of the Mujeres Conductoras program.

Muñoz left office on 11 March 2026, when the government of Gabriel Boric ended and José Antonio Kast assumed the presidency. He was succeeded as Minister of Transport and Telecommunications by Louis de Grange.

2026 U.S. visa dispute In February 2026, the United States Department of State revoked the U.S. visas of Muñoz and two other Chilean officials, along with restrictions affecting their immediate family members. The measure was linked to Chile China Express, a proposed submarine fiber-optic cable between Valparaíso and Hong Kong backed by two Chinese companies. The U.S. government said the officials had engaged in activities that compromised critical telecommunications infrastructure and undermined regional security.

The Chilean government rejected the allegations, and the project was subsequently suspended. Muñoz's U.S. visa was reinstated later that year.

Later career After leaving government in March 2026, Muñoz returned to academia at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and became an adjunct researcher at CEDEUS. In August 2026, he received the Premio Sello Ingeniería UC for his public service and contributions to transportation and sustainable mobility.

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