Laura Rodríguez

Laura Fiora Rodríguez Riccomini (1 April 1957 – 18 July 1992) was a Chilean political activist from the Humanist Party. In 1989 she became the world's first Humanist to win a seat in parliament, after claiming victory as part of the Concertación coalition.

Rodríguez was born in Santiago, Chile. She married Darío Ergas in 1978. She was active in and eventually became president of the Community for Human Development. She graduated as engineer from the University of Chile in 1983.

Rodríguez was co-founder of the Humanist Party in 1984 and was president of the party in 1990. She was elected to the Chilean parliament in 1989 for the La Reina-Peñalolén electoral district.

Rodríguez died of brain cancer in 1992.

Early life and family Rodríguez was born in Santiago on 1 April 1957. She was the daughter of Edgardo Luis Rodríguez Paolinelli and Livia María Riccomini Cianelli; among her friends she was known as "Lala".

On 19 May 1978, she married Darío Ergas Benmayor. They had one son, Simón.

She completed her primary and secondary education at the Scuola Italiana. She later studied Civil Industrial Engineering at the University of Chile, graduating in 1983 with highest honors.

In her professional career, she provided consulting services in the development of social projects aimed at youth training and integration. She also served as Director of the Centro de Estudios Humanistas (CEH).

Political career She began her political involvement during her university years. During that time, she presided over the "Community for Human Development" (Grupo de Silo), where she organized social and cultural work in various communes and regions of the country and promoted active nonviolence.

In 1984, she promoted the creation of the Humanist Party, in which she held different positions. At the age of 32, she became president of the party. That same year, the party merged with the Green Party to form the Humanist-Green Alliance, and she became the first woman to preside over a political party in Chile.

During the military regime, she participated in multiple opposition initiatives aimed at restoring democracy. She was a member of the executive team of Mujeres Integradas por las Elecciones Libres (MIEL). She also worked in the Women's Command for the "No" campaign in the 5 October 1988 plebiscite and was part of Mujeres por la Democracia.

In 1989, she was nominated as a pre-candidate for the Presidency of the Republic within the Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia. That same year, at a meeting held in Florence, Italy, attended by delegations from 40 countries, she was elected Vice President of the Humanist International.

In the 1989 parliamentary elections, she ran for the Chamber of Deputies for District No. 24, representing the communes of La Reina and Peñalolén in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, for the 1990–1994 term. She obtained 40,526 votes, corresponding to 29.29% of the validly cast ballots.