Ricardo García Rodríguez

Early life and education

Rodríguez was born in Valparaíso on 3 December 1930, the son of Juan Facundo Severo García Luco and María Carolina Rodríguez Barros. He completed his primary and secondary education at the Colegio de los Sagrados Corazones in Valparaíso, where he received all the school’s distinctions.

While studying at the Sagrados Corazones school, he met Carlos Cáceres Contreras, who would later become his student when Rodríguez taught law at the School of Business in the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso. Later, on 13 February 1985, he was appointed Minister of the Interior by General Augusto Pinochet, a move that came as a surprise given his limited prior experience in politics.

On the other hand, during his tenure new laws were enacted on political parties, elections and vote counting, and electoral registers, as well as legislation establishing the Electoral Qualification Courts and the law governing the National Congress of Chile.

Death

He died in Santiago on 14 June 2022, at the age of 91, as a result of respiratory failure.