Luis Alberto Cuevas Contreras

Luis Alberto Cuevas Contreras (23 March 1896 – 29 July 1973) was a Chilean lawyer and politician affiliated with the Radical Party. He served as presuntive deputy for Pisagua and Tarapacá in 1926, minister of the Interior (1946–1947), and vice president of the Republic.

Biography He was born in Temuco on 23 March 1896, the son of Juan Cuevas Troncoso and Rosario Contreras Guerrero. He married Nelly Campodónico Alfaro; they had two children.

He studied at the Internado Nacional Barros Arana and at the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile. He was sworn in as a lawyer on 4 November 1922; his thesis was entitled La pericia médico–legal: sus imperfecciones en la práctica.

He practised law in Santiago between 1921 and 1923. He later moved to Iquique, where he resided until 1932. In 1930 he was provincial councillor of the Bar Association of Iquique. In 1932 the Government appointed him fiscal procurator and he returned to Santiago, serving in that position until 1946. In 1939 he was head of the Low-Cost Housing Section of the Caja de Crédito Hipotecario and fiscal of the Caja de Seguro Obligatorio. In 1945 he was appointed director general of the National Civil Registry. In 1948 he served as fiscal of the Caja de Crédito Hipotecario and director of the insurance company La Previsión.

He died in Santiago on 29 July 1973.

Political career A member of the Radical Party, he was delegate to the Central Board of Antofagasta, secretary-general of the party on five occasions, vice president, and in 1946 was elected president of the party. He served as head of the presidential campaign of Gabriel González Videla and presided over the Leftist Convention that proclaimed him candidate.

In public administration he served as mayor of the Municipality of Iquique and concurrently as lawyer and fiscal procurator. During the final months of the presidency of Juan Antonio Ríos Morales he served as substitute minister of the Interior between 17 October and 2 November 1946. President Gabriel González Videla appointed him minister of the Interior from 3 November 1946 to 2 August 1947; he was vice president of the Republic from 23 June to 14 July 1947.

He was presuntive deputy for the 1st Departamental Circumscription of Pisagua and Tarapacá for the 1926–1930 period; he functioned presuntively from 1 March to 23 April 1926. On 23 April 1926 the Electoral Qualifying Tribunal proclaimed Carlos Contreras Labarca, who assumed the seat.

He contributed to the press with literary, political and administrative articles and was director of the newspaper El Meridiano. He was a member of the Automobile Club and the Club Deportivo of the University of Chile.