Enrique Cañas Flores

Enrique Cañas Flores (28 January 1900 – 2 December 1988) was a Chilean lawyer, professor, diplomat, and Conservative Party politician who served as Deputy for the 1st Metropolitan District between 1933 and 1953.

Biography Cañas Flores was born in Talca on 28 January 1900, the son of Leopoldo Cañas and Carmen Flores. He married Glarifa Madrid Arellano.

He studied at the Liceo of Talca and at the Liceo de Aplicación in Santiago. He later entered both the Pedagogical Institute and the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile, earning degrees as lawyer and professor of History and Geography in 1925. He pursued further studies at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.

Professional career Cañas began teaching at the Santa Catalina and San Agustín Liceos in 1920, later at Colegio San Pedro Nolasco, Liceo Miguel Luis Amunátegui, the German School of Santiago, and the Liceo de Aplicación. He also taught Economic Geography at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and the University of Chile.

He was Vice President of the National Association of Catholic Students in 1924.

Diplomatic activity He served as Chilean Delegate to the International Labour Conference in Geneva, and as Alternate Delegate to the League of Nations Assembly (1933). He attended the World Congress of the Catholic Press in Brussels (1935), and represented Chile at the Buenos Aires Peace Conference (1936).

He served as Commercial Counsellor of the Chilean Embassy in Rome, and later as Ambassador to Uruguay between 1965 and 1970.

Political career A member of the Conservative Party, he served as provincial president of the party in Santiago in 1940.

He was elected Deputy for the 1st Metropolitan District (Santiago) for the 1933–1937 term, serving on the Standing Committees on Foreign Relations and on Economy and Trade.

He was reelected for three consecutive terms (1941–1945, 1945–1949, 1949–1953), participating on the Standing Committees on Education, Labour and Social Legislation, and Finance.

Other activities Cañas was a columnist for «El Diario Ilustrado» and acted as its delegate in a mission to Lima, Peru. He was secretary and manager of the Association of Central Millers, Vice President of the National Tourism Council, and commercial agent of the Chilean Saltpetre and Iodine Sales Corporation in Brussels (1953).

He served as Director of the Law Center of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and was twice President of the Chilean-Brazilian Institute (1948–1980).

Honors He was awarded the rank of Commander of the French Legion of Honor. He was also a member of Club Fernández Concha and Director of the Club Hípico de Santiago.