Ricardo Valenzuela Sáez

Ricardo Valenzuela Saéz (8 December 1910 – 22 August 1976) was a Chilean chemist, pharmacist, lawyer and politician, member of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC). He served as deputy between 1961 and 1969, and senator for O'Higgins and Colchagua between 1969 and 1973.

Biography He was born in Santiago on 8 December 1910, the son of Ricardo Valenzuela and María Ester Sáez. He married Sixta Horta Toro.

He studied at the Liceo of Rengo, and later entered the University of Chile, where he graduated as a chemist-pharmacist in 1930, with a thesis entitled Bioquímica del Ácido Oxálico. He later pursued studies in law at the same university, graduating in 1954 with a thesis on Fundamento para una Reforma de la Seguridad Social en Chile.

Public career Valenzuela joined the Falange Nacional in 1939. He worked as professor of Pharmaceutical Legislation and Deontology at the University of Chile (1949–1954). He was Secretary General of the Pan-American Confederation of Biochemistry and Pharmacy (1955).

In 1957, he became a member of the newly founded Christian Democratic Party. He was elected deputy for Rancagua, Caupolicán, Cachapoal and San Vicente (1961–1965), serving on the permanent commissions of Interior Government, Economy and Trade, and Police and Regulations.

He was reelected deputy for the same constituency (1965–1969), and integrated the permanent commissions of Labor and Social Legislation, Public Education, and Government Interior. He also participated as Chilean delegate in the foundation of the Latin American Parliament in Lima (1962).

In 1969 he was elected senator for O’Higgins and Colchagua (1969–1977), joining the permanent commissions of Public Education and Public Health. He was also national vice-president of the PDC (1970). His senatorial term was cut short by the dissolution of Congress following the 1973 Chilean coup d'état.

He died on 22 August 1976 in Santiago, after a long illness, having retired from political life following the coup. He was buried in the Cementerio General de Santiago.