Emiliano Figueroa Larraín (; 12 July 1866 – 16 May 1931) was

President of Chile The president of Chile (), officially the president of the Republic of Chile (), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Chile. The president is responsible for both Government of Chile, government administration and s ...

from December 23, 1925, until his resignation on May 10, 1927. He also served as acting president for a few months in 1910.

Biography

Figueroa was born on July 12, 1866, in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, son of Francisco de Paula Figueroa Araoz and of Rosalía Larraín Echeverría. He studied in the San Ignacio School and then went on to study law at the

State University A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

. He graduated in 1889 and that same year was named secretary to the Intendant of Santiago. Figueroa decided to embark on a political career and joined the Liberal Democratic Party, which supported a stronger executive. He was elected deputy for Victoria and Melipilla in 1900 and reelected in 1903. In 1907, once his term had ended, he was selected to replace Juan José Valenzuela, deputy for Rere and Puchacay, who had died in July that year. In 1909, Figueroa was once again elected to the Chamber of Deputies, this time representing Itata. On October 25, 1907, President

Pedro Montt Pedro Elías Pablo Montt Montt (; 29 June 1849, Santiago, Chile – 16 August 1910, Bremen, Germany) was a Chilean political figure. He served as the president of Chile from 1906 to his death from a probable stroke in 1910. His government fur ...

named Figueroa Minister of Justice, a position which he kept until September 15, 1909. President Montt died on August 16, 1910, and was replaced by his Minister of Interior,

Elías Fernández Albano Elías Fernández Albano (c. 1845 - September 6, 1910) was a Chilean politician, who was acting president of Chile from August 16, 1910 until his death. He was born in Santiago de Chile, the son of Juan de Dios Fernández Gana and María del Pil ...

, who became acting president. Fernández named Figueroa Minister of Interior but died on September 6 that very year. Figueroa then replaced Fernández as acting president and stayed in that position until December 23, when

Ramón Barros Luco Ramón Barros Luco (; June 9, 1835 – September 20, 1919) was President of Chile between 1910 and 1915. Barros Luco was born in 1835 in Santiago, Barros Luco was son of Ramón Luis Barros Fernández and Dolores Luco Fernández de Leiva. He gra ...

was inaugurated as president. Barros named Figueroa to the post of ambassador to Spain in 1911, and in 1914 became ambassador to Argentina. Figueroa was considered a harmless politician and the three major political parties in Chile,

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

, Liberal, and Radical, chose him as a consensus candidate for the

1925 Chilean presidential election Presidential elections were held in Chile on 22 October 1925.Dieter Nohlen (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II'', p262 They were the first direct presidential elections in the country's history and the first to be held ...

. The purpose of having a single candidate was to avoid political campaigning in the volatile political situation the country was in. Nevertheless, leftist José Santos Salas ignored the three parties' agreement and declared his candidacy, backed by the Social Republican Worker's Union. Figueroa easily defeated Salas and became president on 23 December 1925. Figueroa kept the ambitious General Carlos Ibáñez as Minister of War, and later named him Minister of the Interior. In 1927, Ibáñez ordered the arrest of Figueroa's brother Javier Ángel, President of the Supreme Court. Unable to withstand the political pressure, Figueroa resigned and Ibáñez became acting president. After winning the presidential election that year with 98% of the vote, Ibáñez became president and wielded dictatorial powers. Ibáñez named Figueroa ambassador to Peru in 1928. Upon his return in 1929, Figueroa became president of the Central Bank of Chile. He died in a car accident on May 16, 1931.

References

* San Francisco, Alejandro, and Ángel Soto, eds. ''Camino a La Moneda''. Santiago: Centro De Estudios Bicentenario, 2005. * Collier, Simon, and William F. Sater. ''A History of Chile, 1808–2002''. 2nd ed. Cambridge UP, 2002.
Biography of Figueroa from the Chilean Library of Congress
{{DEFAULTSORT:Figueroa Larrain, Emiliano 1866 births 1931 deaths Politicians from Santiago, Chile Chilean people of Galician descent Figueroa Chilean people of Basque descent Liberal Democratic Party (Chile, 1893) politicians Presidents of Chile Ministers of justice of Chile Deputies of the XXVI Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Deputies of the XXVII Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Deputies of the XXVIII Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Deputies of the XXIX Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Candidates for President of Chile Presidents of the Central Bank of Chile Ambassadors of Chile to Argentina Ambassadors of Chile to Peru Ambassadors of Chile to Spain Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera alumni University of Chile alumni