Fernando Varas Contreras

Fernando Varas Contreras (17 September 1891 – 10 April 1969) was a Chilean politician, lawyer, and academic who served multiple terms as deputy of the Republic.

Biography Varas Contreras was born in Santiago, Chile, on 17 September 1891. He was the son of Fernando Varas Ossa and Josefina Contreras Villegas.

He studied at the Seminario de Santiago and later pursued legal studies at the University of Chile and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He qualified as a lawyer on 25 May 1914 after submitting a thesis entitled Novación.

He married Cecilia Alfonso Schleyer in Santiago in 1927, with whom he had children.

Professional career Varas Contreras served as professor at the Military School, the War Academy, the German School (Liceo Alemán), and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

He was manager of El Diario Ilustrado of Santiago, where he worked alongside his brother Jorge Varas, and also collaborated with La Discusión of Chillán.

He served as an officer of the Fiscal Treasury of Santiago and as a director of the Sociedad Nacional de Agricultura.

Political career Varas Contreras was a member of the Conservative Party.

He was elected Deputy for Santiago for the 1924–1927 legislative period, serving on the Standing Committees on Social Legislation and Style Correction. Congress was dissolved on 11 September 1924 by decree of the Government Junta.

He was re-elected Deputy for the Seventh Departmental District of Santiago for the 1926–1930 term, serving on the Standing Committees on Internal Government and Public Education, and as substitute member of the Standing Committees on Finance and on Labor and Social Welfare.

He was re-elected for the same constituency for the 1930–1934 period, presiding over the Standing Committee on Internal Government and serving on the Standing Committee on Internal Police. Congress was dissolved again following the revolutionary movement of June 1932.

He was subsequently elected deputy for the Twenty-first Departmental Grouping (Nueva Imperial, Temuco and Villarrica) for the 1933–1937 legislative period, presiding over the Standing Committee on Internal Government.

He was re-elected for the same grouping for the 1937–1941 term, serving on the Standing Committees on Roads and Public Works and on Medical-Social Assistance and Hygiene, and as substitute member of the Standing Committees on Public Education, Agriculture and Colonization, and on Labor and Social Legislation.

Other works He co-authored a course on civic instruction for secondary education, together with Benjamín Claro Velasco.