Raimundo del Río

Raimundo del Río Castillo (4 September 1884 – 19 March 1965) was a Chilean lawyer, academic, and politician. A member of the Liberal Party, he served as Minister of Public Education under President Pedro Aguirre Cerda from June to October 1941.

Biography Del Río was born in Santiago on 4 September 1884, the son of lawyer José Raimundo del Río Soto Aguilar, who served as Minister of Finance in 1906 and later directed the Public Employees' Savings Fund, and María Elena Castillo Urizar.

He completed his primary education and part of his secondary studies at the Sacred Hearts School, Santiago, before graduating from the Instituto Nacional. He studied law at the University of Chile, qualifying as a lawyer in 1916. He later joined the university's faculty as a professor.

He married Berta Huneeus Lavín, daughter of former congressman Jorge Huneeus Gana.

Public career Del Río was a member of the Institute of Criminal Sciences, serving as its president in 1935. During the administration of President Pedro Aguirre Cerda, he was appointed vice president of the Chilean delegation to the Criminology Congress held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1938, and again to the congress held in Santiago in 1941.

On 10 June 1941, Aguirre Cerda appointed him Minister of Public Education, a position he held until 6 October 1941.

During the presidency of Juan Antonio Ríos, he served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Chile between 1944 and 1945.

In 1946, he was elected dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Chile, and was subsequently re-elected in 1952, 1955, and 1956. During his tenure, the Editorial Jurídica de Chile was established, and he served as its first president.

He died in Santiago on 19 March 1965.

Selected works

Del Río authored several legal works, including:

Derecho penal (1915). El problema penal (1916). Derecho internacional (1916). Derecho penal (3 vols., 1935): Volume I: Theory and History Volume II: Criminal Legislation: General Part Volume III: Criminal Legislation: Special Offences Explicaciones de derecho penal (2 vols., 1945). Fundamentos legales del estado docente en Chile (1954).