Ricardo Fonseca Aguayo

Ricardo Fonseca Aguayo was a Chilean teacher and communist politician.

Biography

Fonseca Aguayo was born in Puerto Saavedra, Chile, on 17 January 1906. He was the son of Santiago Fonseca and Clorinda Aguayo.
He studied at the Public School of Puerto Saavedra and later at the Escuela Normal of Victoria, Chile, qualifying as a primary school teacher in 1923.
He worked as a teacher in schools in Valdivia, Molina and Santiago between 1924 and 1937. In 1938, he travelled to the United States to attend the World Youth Congress held in New York. He later visited Peru, Argentina and Uruguay. He collaborated with and served as director of the newspaper El Siglo in 1940.
He married Elena Pedraza, with whom he had three children: Claudio Leonardo, Margarita and Eugenia.

Fonseca Aguayo joined the Communist Party in 1929. He served as regional secretary for Santiago, was a national leader of the party’s Central Committee, and served as Secretary General of the Communist Youth between 1936 and 1938.
He represented the party in the Democratic Alliance of Chile in 1942 and later served as national secretary for Education, Press and Propaganda in 1945. He became Secretary General of the Communist Party in 1946.
In 1941, he was elected Deputy for the Tarapacá Departmental Group —Arica, Iquique and Pisagua— for the 1941–1945 term. He served on the Standing Committee on Education.
He was re-elected for the 1945–1949 term, again representing Tarapacá. During this period, he served on the Standing Committees on Government Interior, Foreign Affairs, Constitution, Legislation and Justice, and Public Education.
Fonseca Aguayo died in Santiago on 21 July 1949. His funeral was held the following day at the General Cemetery of Santiago.