Rojo Edwards Silva (born José Manuel Ismael Edwards Silva; 15 July, 1977) is a Chilean

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

serving as

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

for the

Santiago Metropolitan Region Santiago Metropolitan Region () is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions. It is the country's only landlocked administrative region and contains the nation's capital, Santiago. Most commercial and administrative centers are loc ...

. A member of the Christian Social Party, he previously served in the Chamber of Deputies.

Studies

Rojo Edwards pursued his undergraduate studies at the Chilean Catholic University, becoming Industrial Engineer in 2002. During the year 2000, he participated in the exchange program at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. He graduated as an engineer with the highest honors granted by his university. He obtained the “FIUC Award” granted by his university's Engineers Foundation to the most outstanding student demonstrating academic excellence, leadership and dedication to service. Upon obtaining his Transport Engineering specialization, he obtained the distinguished “Ismael Valdés Valdés Award”, granted by the Chilean Institute of Engineers to the engineering graduate that demonstrates an outstanding combination of leadership capabilities, technical preparation and social values. In 2007, he completed his master's degree in Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Harvard University awarded him the Catherine B. Reynolds Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship.

Work experience

During 2006, he completed an internship with the trustee of the Universidad de Chile Soccer Team, José Manuel Edwards. Between 2007 and 2009, he worked as an associate investment officer for the financing of large infrastructure projects in Latin America at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington DC. In May 2019, Rojo Edwards founded “Ideas Republicanas” (IR). IR is think tank connected to the Chilean Republican Party. Rojo Edwards served as its president and executive director up until March 2022. During his tenure, he co-authored and edited IR's book called “Ruta Republicana”.

Humanitarian work

In 1997, he co-founded the initiative “2000 Mediaguas for the 2000s”, the direct antecedent of Un Techo para Chile. He was part of the group of young people that called on students from different universities to build 2.000 emergency shelters for the underprivileged, before the year 2000. This goal was achieved by September 1999. This success led to the creation of the NGO “Un Techo para Chile”. Rojo Edwards assumed as "Director of Construction" in 2004, leading the construction of 4.500 ''mediaguas'' (emergency housing) in Chile. As a Chilean Senator, Rojo Edwards promoted and acted as rapporteur of the emergency item "Raising awareness and calling for action on the serious humanitarian crises affecting the peoples of Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen, and other countries, and the special vulnerability of women and children", which was approved unanimously during the Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly held in the city of Manama (Bahrain) between March 11 and 15, 2023. The resolution calls on the international community to confront with concrete action, the multiple humanitarian crises affecting 340 million people around the world.

Chamber of Deputies

Edwards entered into the

center-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

party National Renewal in 2009. In December of that year he was elected as deputy for the

Araucanía Region The Araucanía ( ), La Araucanía Region ( ) is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions, and comprises two provinces: Malleco in the north and Cautín in the south. Its capital and largest city is Temuco; other important cities ...

for the period of 2010–2014. He was reelected in 2013. On September 28, 2016, he announced his resignation from militancy in National Renewal. He tried to be

in the 2017 election for the

, but did not get enough votes. In 2019 he entered into the Republican Party.

Senate

2021 Chilean general election General elections were held in Chile on 21 November 2021, including presidential, parliamentary and regional elections. Voters went to the polls to elect a President of Chile, president to serve a four-year term, 27 of 50 members of the Senate ...

, Edwards supported

José Antonio Kast José Antonio Kast Rist (born 18 January 1966), also known by his initials JAK, is a Chilean lawyer and politician. He is running for president in the 2025 Chilean general election, for the third time. Part of the prominent Kast family, he se ...

's candidacy, and he ran again to be

for the

, obtaining the third mayority thus being a senator for the Republican Party. He was the first Latin American parliamentarian to visit Ukraine in early May 2022. He was part of the organization of President Zelensky's first address to a Latin American audience at Catholic University of Santiago. For the 145th World Inter-Parlamientary Union, senator Edwards wrote and defended IPU's emergency item, condemning the annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russia. This resolution was approved by consensus, with only 5 countries to abstain (India, Mozambique, South Sudán, South Africa and Yemen). In January 2022, Edwards became the president of the Republican Party. He would later quit the party and joined the PSC.

Hobbies

Rojo Edwards climbed Mount Aconcagua (6,960 msnm) and the Tupungato Volcano (6,560 msnm), ran the Washington DC Marathon in October 2008, and is a member of PADI International (International Association of Divers). Rojo Edwards plays the piano and enjoys creating and caring for his bonsai.

References

External links

BCN Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Rojo 1977 births Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni National Renewal (Chile) politicians Republican Party (Chile, 2019) politicians Living people Harvard Kennedy School alumni Chilean Roman Catholics Chilean anti-abortion activists Chilean anti-communists Chilean anti-same-sex-marriage activists Chilean people of Basque descent Chilean people of Irish descent Independent politicians in Chile Engineers from Chicago Politicians from Chicago People from Santiago, Chile Deputies of the LIII Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Deputies of the LIV Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Senators of the LVI Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile