Germán Riesco Zañartu

Riesco began his political career in 1961 by joining the Liberal Party. He participated in the Catemu Assembly in Aconcagua, serving as a delegate for that locality. Later, he joined the National Party and ran for Deputy in 1969.

He was elected Deputy for the 15th Departmental Group (San Carlos and Itata) for the 1969–1973 term. In Congress, he was a member of the Permanent Committees on Economy, Development and Reconstruction; Finance; Internal Government; and Latin American Integration. He also served on investigative committees on Banco del Estado loan concessions (1969–1970), violence against peasants and officials of CORA and INDAP (1969–1970), and irregularities in merchandise imports by Ford Company and other firms (1970). Between 1970 and 1971, he was an alternate member of the National Party's Parliamentary Committee. In 1970, he traveled to West Germany and France as part of a parliamentary delegation.

In the 1973 Chilean parliamentary election, he was reelected Deputy for the same constituency for the 1973–1977 term, serving as president of the Committee on Economy, Development and Reconstruction. However, his mandate was interrupted by the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, and Congress was dissolved by Decree-Law No. 27 on 21 September 1973.

During the military regime, he was appointed Undersecretary of Agriculture, serving from 1975 to 1978. He was also Acting Minister of Agriculture from 3 to 5 February 1977, and again from 18 to 21 January 1978. Later, he presided over the Santiago International Fair (FISA) in 1980.

He was part of the faction of the National Party that supported the «No» option in the 1988 Chilean national plebiscite. He became a member of the Party of the Center Alliance (PAC), serving as its president between 1989 and 1990. On 5 May 1990, during the presidency of Patricio Aylwin, he was appointed Ambassador of Chile to the United Kingdom.

• Fundación Presidente Balmaceda – Biography