Vicente Ruiz Mondaca

Vicente Segundo Ruiz Mondaca (10 April 1907 – 26 April 1998) was a Chilean socialist politician, journalist and trade union leader who served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies during the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Biography Ruiz Mondaca was born in Tocopilla, Chile, on 10 April 1907. He was the son of Vicente Ruiz and Juana Mondaca.

He completed his primary education at the School of Gatico in Tocopilla and later attended the Liceo of Antofagasta. He married Uberlinda Veas Bugueño in Antofagasta in 1936.

He devoted much of his life to trade union activity, serving as Director of the Maritime Stevedores’ Union and working in maritime operations linked to the Lautaro Nitrate Company.

Ruiz Mondaca died in Santiago on 26 April 1998 at the age of 91.

Political career Ruiz Mondaca was a member of the Socialist Party and served on its Regional Committee.

He was elected Municipal Councillor (regidor) of Antofagasta between 1938 and 1939. In 1939, he entered the Chamber of Deputies as a substitute deputy for the 2nd Departmental Group —Tocopilla, El Loa, Antofagasta and Taltal— replacing Óscar Cifuentes Solar, who had accepted a diplomatic post. Ruiz Mondaca had been the sole candidate in the corresponding by-election.

He was subsequently re-elected as Deputy for the same constituency for the 1941–1945 legislative term, during which he served on the Standing Committee on Finance. During his parliamentary tenure, he actively promoted reforms to the 1931 Labour Code.

In parallel with his political activities, he collaborated with the press on political and social matters and was a member of various mutual aid societies.