Ricardo Salas Edwards

Ricardo Salas Edwards (9 June 1870 – 6 June 1939) was a Chilean lawyer, journalist and politician. He served as a deputy representing the Fifteenth Departamental Circumscription of San Carlos, Chillán, Bulnes and Yungay during the 1930–1934 legislative period.

Biography Salas was born in Copiapó, Chile, on 9 June 1870, the son of José Rafael Salas Errázuriz and Ventura Edwards Garriga. He married Elena González Edwards, and the couple had seven children.

He studied at the Colegio San Ignacio between 1881 and 1886, and later entered the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile, qualifying as a lawyer on 11 July 1892.

Salas held numerous public and diplomatic positions. He served as subsecretary of the Ministry of the Interior from 1891 to 1892, and as secretary of the Chilean legations in London and Paris in 1892.

He worked as a journalist, being the first editor of the newspaper La Unión of Valparaíso and founder of the Diario Ilustrado, later transferred to the Sociedad Periodística de Chile. He also contributed to the magazine Artes y Letras and directed the journal Estudios.

During the presidency of Germán Riesco (1901–1906), he served as inspector of Chilean consulates in Europe and drafted a reform project for the consular regulations.

He was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, Worship and Colonization by President Pedro Montt, serving from 29 October 1906 to 12 June 1907. Later, under President Ramón Barros Luco, he served as Minister of Finance from 17 November 1913 to 3 September 1914, and briefly as acting Minister of Justice from 21 to 26 November 1913. He again served as Minister of Finance during the presidency of Juan Luis Sanfuentes from 12 October 1917 to 18 January 1918.

He was also a delegate in Santiago of the Association of Nitrate Producers, legal defender of the Compañía Salitrera Chilena (COSACH), and in 1930 participated as an official commissioner in the Chilean delegation to New York to address the nitrate issue.

In addition, he was a winegrower and owner of the Viña Tarapacá (formerly Zavala) in the Llano del Maipo. He was a member of the Club de la Unión and a full member of the Academia Chilena de la Historia.

He authored several books, as well as numerous pamphlets and economic studies.

Political career Salas was a member of the Conservative Party.

He was elected deputy for Concepción for the 1915–1918 legislative period, serving on the Permanent Commission on Finance, which he chaired, and participating in the Conservative Parliamentary Commission.

He was later re-elected deputy for the Fifteenth Departamental Circumscription of San Carlos, Chillán, Bulnes and Yungay for the 1930–1934 legislative period, serving on the Permanent Commission on Finance.

The 1932 Chilean coup d'état led to the dissolution of the National Congress on 6 June 1932.

He died in Santiago, Chile, on 6 June 1939.