Santiago Labarca

Santiago Labarca Labarca (1 March 1893 – 1968) was a Chilean civil engineer and politician who served as member of the Chamber of Deputies.

Biography He was born in Chillán on 1 March 1893, son of Santiago Labarca Walton and Josefina Labarca Ojeda. He married Berta Vergara Varas in 1921, and they had three children.

He studied at the Liceo de Chillán and at the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Chile, qualifying as civil engineer on 26 November 1917. His graduation project was titled Sobre resistencia de materiales, hidráulica y ferrocarriles. He practiced his profession in Santiago.

He held numerous technical and managerial positions in public and private institutions, including the Caja Hipotecaria, Instituto de Crédito Industrial, Ferrocarriles del Estado, Caja de Crédito Agrario, Caja de Seguro Obligatorio, Compañía de Transportes Unidos S.A., Vidrios Neutros S.A., and others. He later represented COVENSA in Spain and Egypt and served as rector of the Universidad Técnica del Estado between 1957 and 1959.

He was member of the Radical Party, serving as president of the party and of its propaganda center. In 1920 he was imprisoned on charges of subversion; in 1923 the prosecutor requested dismissal of the case. He collaborated in the press and directed the magazine Numen in 1923, using pseudonyms such as Dr. Ax and Dr. Raper.

He participated in the 1925 Constituent Advisory Commission. In 1927 he emigrated to Ecuador and later traveled to Europe and Asia. He served in diplomatic and international roles, including as head of the technical section of the Mixed Commission for the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations (1928–1931), arbitrator in the Panama–Costa Rica boundary dispute (1944), and ambassador of Chile to Italy (1959–1963).

He served as Minister of Education between 15 November 1931 and 8 April 1932, and later as Minister of Finance from 6 October 1944 to 14 May 1945.

He died in 1968.

Political career He was elected deputy for the 7th Departamental Grouping of Santiago for the 1926–1930 period.

In 1937 he ran as independent candidate for deputy but was not elected.