Ricardo Lagos

Former President of the Republic of Chile

Ricardo Lagos is a lawyer and holds a Ph.D. in Economics. His professional career began as an academic and official in various international organizations linked to the U.N.  Between 1973-1989 he was a strong opponent of the military dictatorship and founded the Party for Democracy in Chile. After his country´s return to democracy, he was one of the leaders of the transition process. He was named Minister of Education and Public Works. After his tenure, he was named President of the Club of Madrid.  He is the founder of the Council of International Relations of Latin America and the Caribbean (RIAL), Visiting Professor at Brown University in the United States and United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Change. He is currently a member of The Elders Group and founder and President of the Fundacion Democracia y Desarrollo.

In the year 2000 he assumed as President of the Republic of Chile from where he led processes such as the Constitutional reform process, the improvement of the concession system. These changes brought about substantial improvement in the country’s infrastructure; the creation of a health system that ensures timely care – known as Auge – and introduced important advances in human rights issues such as the Valech Report and compensation to more than 30,000 victims of human rights violations during the dictatorship.