Joaquín Figueroa Larraín (c. 1863 - May 30, 1929) was a Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an politician, and brother of President Emiliano Figueroa

Emiliano Figueroa

Emiliano Figueroa Larraín was President of Chile from December 23, 1925 until his resignation on May 10, 1927. He also served as Acting president for a few months on 1910.-Biography:...

.

Biography

Figueroa was born in Santiago

Santiago, Chile

Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...

, the son of Francisco de Paula Figueroa Araoz and of Rosalía Larraín Echeverría. He studied at the San Ignacio School and then went on to study law at the Universidad de Chile, graduating on January 13, 1886. He married Elena Amunátegui Valdés but they had no children.

Figueroa decided to embark on a political career and joined the Liberal Democratic Party

Liberal Democratic Party (Chile)

The Liberal Democratic Party is the name of two Chilean liberal political parties. The first one, formed by Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna, lasted very little and the second one called also balmacedist was one of the impellers of the Chilean parliamentary system from 1891 to 1925.-Vicuña Mackenna's...

, which supported a stronger executive. On October 25, 1907, President Pedro Montt

Pedro Montt

Pedro Elías Pablo Montt Montt was a Chilean political figure. He served as the president of Chile from 1906 to his death from a probable stroke in 1910...

 appointed Figueroa as Minister of Industry and Public Works

Ministry of Public Works (Chile)

The Ministry of Public Works is the cabinet-level administrative office in charge of "planning, directing, controlling and building the public infrastructure, as well as the conservation and management of them" within Chile. It is also responsible for the "management, distribution, use and...

, a position which he kept until August 29, 1908. President Montt also appointed him as Minister of Finance between June 15 and September 15, 1909. Then, in a 1908 by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

, he was elected Senator

Senate of Chile

The Senate of the Republic of Chile is the upper house of Chile's bicameral National Congress, as established in the current Constitution of Chile.-Composition:...

 for Valparaíso

Valparaíso

Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...

, Chile and then reelected in 1912. President Ramón Barros Luco

Ramón Barros Luco

Ramón Barros Luco 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 graduated from Law School in 1858...

 appointed him Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cult and Colonization from May 29 to August 8, 1912.

Joaquín Figueroa was a Director of the National Children's Fund (Patronato Nacional de la Infancia); Vice Presidente of the Santiago Charity Council (Junta de Beneficencia de Santiago); director of the San Luis Hospital and in 1911, one of the founders of the National Historic Museum of Chile and later one of its directors. He died in Santiago, in 1929, at the age of 66.

Sources

• Official biography