Diego Barba Valdés

Diego Juan Barba Valdés (1921 – May 2012) was a Chilean police officer who held the rank of general in Carabineros de Chile. He served as Minister of Lands and Colonization from 1973 to 1974 during the military government of General Augusto Pinochet.

Life and family Barba was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1921. He married María Olga Rondanelli Hidalgo, founder of the Bertait College in the Santiago commune of Lo Barnechea.

The couple had one son, Roberto René Barba Rondanelli, a member of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) who served as a councillor for Lo Barnechea from 2012 to 2020 and later became director of the school founded by his mother, as well as executive vice-president of the Fundación Universidad Internacional de la Empresa.

Police career Barba entered Carabineros de Chile in 1941 and served in various precincts across Coquimbo, Valparaíso and Santiago.

During the administration of President Eduardo Frei Montalva, he was appointed in 1969 as Chile's first police attaché to Costa Rica, a position he held until 1971. He retired from the institution on 9 February 1972 with the rank of general of Order and Security.

He died in Santiago in May 2012.