Ríos Morales, Juan Antonio

Born Nov. 10, 1888, in Cañete; died June 27, 1946, in Santiago. Chilean statesman and political figure. Moderate radical.

From 1923 to 1929, Ríos Morales was a deputy to the National Congress, and from 1929 to 1942 he served as a senator. In 1932 he was first minister of internal affairs and then minister of justice. He took part in the Popular Front movement between 1936 and 1938.

From 1942 to 1946, Ríos Morales was president of Chile as a member of the democratic alliance. Under the influence of the antifascist democratic movement during World War II, diplomatic relations between Chile and the Axis powers were broken off in January 1943 and diplomatic relations were established with the USSR in December 1944. Ríos Morales carried out a moderate bourgeois domestic policy.