Julio Velasco González

Julio Velasco González (10 September 1876 – 1940) was a Chilean mechanical engineer and Democratic Party politician.

He served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 1924 and as Minister of Public Works, Commerce and Communications under President Emiliano Figueroa and subsequently during the vice presidency of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, holding the ministerial portfolio from 1926 to 1927.

Early life and education

Velasco was born in Coquimbo on 10 September 1876, the son of Casimiro Velasco and Cecilia González.

He received his secondary education at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios. After receiving a scholarship from the Chilean government, he travelled to England to pursue higher education in mechanical engineering at Durham College, where he qualified as a mechanical engineer.

Velasco married twice. His first wife was Florence Sturdy, with whom he had ten children. He later married Consuelo Palma; the second marriage produced no children.

Engineering career

After completing his studies, Velasco undertook professional training with the British engineering firm Armstrong. He subsequently joined the engineering corps of the Chilean Navy, where he worked for five years.

Velasco later joined the Maestranza y Galvanización de Caleta Abarca as a mechanical draughtsman. After three years with the company, he was promoted to engineer, and in 1920 he became its managing director, a position he held until 1923.

He subsequently worked as a contractor on both public and private engineering projects. His public works included the Santiago slaughterhouse, reinforced-concrete construction at the Carlos Van Buren Hospital in Valparaíso, and the road connecting Melipilla and Valparaíso through the Ibacache pass.

Velasco also participated in the organization of a national roads congress held in Santiago in 1927 with the involvement of engineers from across Chile. During the 1930s, in partnership with Jaime Miché and Armando Bonet, he operated a concession for the manufacture of phosphate fertilizers.

He was involved in a number of social, workers', and sporting organizations and was among the founders of the Bandera de Chile football club.

Political career

Municipal and parliamentary career

A member of the Democratic Party, Velasco was elected a municipal councillor in Viña del Mar in the 1915 municipal elections, serving from 1915 to 1918.

In the 1924 parliamentary election, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the Department of Lautaro for the 1924–1927 legislative term. In Congress, he served on the Permanent Committee on War and the Navy and the Permanent Committee on Public Works. His parliamentary term ended prematurely when the National Congress was dissolved by decree on 11 September 1924 following the 1924 Chilean coup d'état.

Velasco later served as a presidential elector. In the 1925 parliamentary election, he stood for the Chamber of Deputies in the constituency comprising Puchacay, Rere and Lautaro, but was not elected.

Minister of Public Works

On 20 November 1926, President Emiliano Figueroa appointed Velasco Minister of Public Works, Commerce and Communications. He remained in office until the end of Figueroa's presidency on 9 May 1927. When Carlos Ibáñez del Campo subsequently assumed the vice presidency, Velasco was retained in the cabinet and continued as minister until 23 May 1927.

During Velasco's tenure, the ministry pursued several irrigation and transport infrastructure projects. These included the construction of the Lagunas reservoir, the commencement of work on the Cogotí and Recoleta reservoirs, and road projects linking Viña del Mar with Concón and Santiago with San Bernardo. His administration also oversaw the completion of the railway between Iquique and Pintados.

The ministry additionally inaugurated works at the Port of Iquique and completed dredging projects on rivers in southern Chile, including the Valdivia River. Velasco also carried out a reorganization of the state-owned State Railways, appointing engineer Pedro Blanquier as its director-general.

Death and legacy

Velasco died in Santiago in 1940. A street in Quilpué was subsequently named after him.