Alejandro Ríos Valdivia

Tomás Alejandro Ríos Valdivia was a Chilean pedagogue and politician, minister of state under presidents Gabriel González Videla and Salvador Allende, as well as deputy for Santiago between 1945 and 1953. He was a member of the Radical Party.

Biography

His parents were Moisés Ríos González and Rita Valdivia Muñoz.
He studied at the Seminary of Santiago and then at the, also in the Chilean capital. He then entered the Pedagogical Institute of the University of Chile to study pedagogy. He graduated as a history and geography teacher in 1923.
He worked as a teacher at the Military School and the Higher Institute of Carabineros.
As such, during the government of González Videla he became Minister of Public Education. During his tenure in the portfolio, the Universidad Técnica del Estado, today the Universidad de Santiago, was formed.
In 1964, he formed the Movement for the Doctrinal Recovery of the Radical Party to support the presidential candidacy of Salvador Allende in that year's presidential elections.
With Allende in power, he served as the Minister of National Defense. He was elected as a deputy for the 7th Departmental Group of Santiago, first district, during the periods 1945–1949 and 1949–1953.