Alfredo Rosende Verdugo

Carlos Alfredo Rosende Verdugo (30 December 1898 – January 1951) was a Chilean lawyer, agriculturist, diplomat and Radical Party politician who served three consecutive terms as a member of the Chamber of Deputies and held office as Minister of the Interior and Ambassador to Italy.

Biography Rosende Verdugo was born in Los Andes on 30 December 1898. He was the son of Luis Rosende Lopehandía and Irene de la Merced Verdugo Beytía.

He completed his primary education in Los Andes and his secondary studies at the Internado Nacional Barros Arana. He later studied law at the University of Chile, qualifying as a lawyer on 16 November 1920 after submitting the thesis Estudio médico-legal del sonambulismo provocado o hipnotismo.

He married Carmen Beytía Aguirre, with whom he had five children: Carmen, Alfredo, Teresa, Ramón and Eugenio.

Rosende Verdugo died in Rome, Italy, in late January 1951 while serving as Chilean ambassador.

Professional career Rosende practiced law in private practice and served as legal counsel to the Banco Español-Chile and the Transandine Railway. Until 1935 he worked in the law office of Pedro Aguirre Cerda and Armando Quezada Acharán.

He was also engaged in agriculture, managing the Bellavista estate in Los Andes, and served as a councillor of the Agricultural Export Board under the Ministry of Agriculture.

Political career Rosende Verdugo joined the Radical Party and held numerous leadership positions within the party, including President of the Los Andes Radical Assembly, Secretary of the Radical Convention in 1924, National Vice President in 1939, and National President in 1944 and again between 1946 and 1949.

He was elected Deputy for the 5th Departmental Group —Petorca, San Felipe and Los Andes— in the 1937 parliamentary elections, serving during the 1937–1941 legislative term. He was re-elected in 1941 and again in 1945, serving until 1949. Throughout his parliamentary career, he served primarily on the Standing Committee on Roads and Public Works and also participated in other standing committees as a substitute member.

On 21 November 1941, Rosende Verdugo was appointed Minister of the Interior by Vice President Jerónimo Méndez Arancibia, following the death of President Pedro Aguirre Cerda. He held the position until 2 April 1942. He later returned to the ministry in an acting capacity between 23 June and 14 July 1947 during the government of Gabriel González Videla.

In 1951, he was appointed Ambassador of Chile to Italy. He died while serving in this post, shortly before the 1952 presidential election, in which he was considered a leading Radical Party contender.