Mario Ríos Padilla

Mario Ríos Padilla (25 June 1908 – 24 June 1998) was a Chilean lawyer, agricultural entrepreneur, and conservative politician.

He served as Deputy of the Republic for the 19th Departmental Grouping (Laja, Nacimiento and Mulchén) in the legislative periods 1945–1949 and 1957–1961, as well as Mayor of Los Ángeles between 1939 and 1943.

Biography Ríos Padilla was born in Los Ángeles on 25 June 1908, the son of former Deputy Víctor Ríos Ruiz and Carmela Padilla Ortiz.

He studied at the Colegio San Ignacio in Santiago and later at the Law School of the University of Chile, where he earned his law degree in 1936 with the thesis Responsabilidad internacional del Estado (“State International Responsibility”).

He engaged in agricultural activities, managing the estates Mirrihue and Mileo in Laja, and Quileco, where he resided. He married María Luisa Santander Gibson in 1940, with whom he had four children, including the later parliamentarian Mario Ríos Santander.

Political career Ríos Padilla joined the Conservative Party around 1932. He founded and presided over the provincial branch of the Conservative Youth and served on the General Board of the party.

He began his political career as councillor of Los Ángeles (1937–1939) and was subsequently elected mayor (1939–1943).

In the 1945 elections, he was elected Deputy for the 19th Departmental Grouping (Laja, Nacimiento, and Mulchén) for the period 1945–1949. During his term he served on the Permanent Commissions of Interior Government and Foreign Affairs, and as substitute member of the Commissions of Constitution, Education and Agriculture.

After a brief hiatus, he was again elected Deputy in the 1957 elections for the same district (1957–1961), serving on the Permanent Commission of Public Health and Hygiene.

He later joined the United Conservative Party (1953–1966) and subsequently the National Party upon its foundation in 1966.

Later activities After leaving Congress, Ríos Padilla became President of the Banco del Bío Bío (1957–1961), collaborated with the newspaper *Las Noticias* in Los Ángeles, and was a member of the Association of Canal Users of El Laja and the Agricultural Society of Bío-Bío.

He was also a member of the local Club de La Unión] and was decorated by the Comisión Organizadora de los 250 Años de la Fundación de Los Ángeles.

In his later years, he sympathized with the National Renewal Party after its creation in 1987.

Death Ríos Padilla died in Santiago on 24 June 1998 at the age of 89.