Maturana worked in the O'Higgins regional offices of the Government General Secretariat Ministry until he was appointed Mayor of Pichilemu by the government —set by a coup d'état in 1973— of President Augusto Pinochet Ugarte on 31 August 1984, to replace Emilio Merino Lacoste. Maturana Maldonado was the last mayor to be appointed by the Pinochet military regime, which remained in power until 1990. Former councilor of Pichilemu Washington Saldías noted in an article published on "Pichilemu News" following Maturana's death, that his mayorship was "marked by significant advances in almost all areas, and whose value was that they were all performed with municipal resources." Saldías also noted that Maturana's work, "although [made] with low municipal budgets, will be remembered as one of the best mayorships [in Pichilemu]."