Darío Urzúa
Darío Urzúa Rojas (7 November 1863 – 5 February 1940) was a Chilean lawyer, academic and politician who served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies for Rere and Puchacay from 1903 to 1912. A member of the Conservative Party, he also worked as a journalist, public official and professor of political economy.
Biography
Urzúa was born in San Vicente de Tagua Tagua on 7 November 1863, the son of Evaristo Urzúa and Griselda Rojas. He completed his secondary education at the Seminario de Santiago and studied law at the University of Chile, qualifying as a lawyer on 29 April 1889. His thesis dealt with criminal law.
He married Leduvina Rojas and, following his first marriage, Matilde Merino Lemus. He had no children.
Professional career
Before qualifying as a lawyer, Urzúa worked as an editor for La Unión in Valparaíso. During the 1891 Chilean Civil War, he opposed the government of José Manuel Balmaceda and printed a clandestine opposition newspaper. After its discovery, he was court-martialed and sentenced to confinement in Rio de Janeiro. Following the victory of the congressional forces, he became secretary to customs superintendent Zorobabel Rodríguez and was also appointed lawyer for the Valparaíso customs office.
From 1906, Urzúa was professor of political economy at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He represented the university at the Catholic Pedagogical Congress held in Buenos Aires in 1910.
He was also involved in several charitable and educational organizations and wrote a number of works on economic and political subjects.
Political career
A member of the Conservative Party, Urzúa was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies for Rere and Puchacay for the 1903–1906 legislative term. He was reelected for the same constituency for the 1906–1909 and 1909–1912 terms. Throughout his parliamentary career, he served on the Permanent Finance Committee.
He also participated in the Northern Consultative Commission, which studied labor conditions in the nitrate-producing regions, and in a special commission established to reform the Organic Code of Courts.
In 1916, Urzúa organized the Congreso Araucanista in Santiago. In 1920, he served as mayor of Providencia. In 1927, the Chilean government appointed him as a delegate to the International Economic Conference organized by the League of Nations in Geneva.
Urzúa died in Santiago on 5 February 1940, aged 76.