Roberto Vergara

Vergara was born in Santiago, Chile, on 30 August 1902, the son of Gabriel Vergara Amigo and María Elisa Herrera Navarrete.^[1] He completed his primary education at Colegio San Agustín in Santiago and later pursued higher studies in engineering at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where he graduated as a civil engineer in 1925.^[1]

He married Olga Varela Alfonso, with whom he had three children.^[1]

Vergara initially worked in academia as a lecturer and later entered the public sector as an official of the General Directorate of Statistics, an agency then dependent on the Ministry of Development. He became Director General of that institution in 1934, during the second administration of President Arturo Alessandri. In 1936, he simultaneously assumed the position of Director General of the Budget Office of the Ministry of Finance, holding both posts until the end of the administration and continuing under the presidency of Pedro Aguirre Cerda. He finally left public office in 1939.^[2]

He later worked at the state-owned Corporación de Fomento de la Producción (CORFO) as head of finance and control, and at the Compañía de Acero del Pacífico (CAP) as a manager, in addition to engaging in other business activities.^[1]

On 3 November 1958, President Jorge Alessandri Rodríguez appointed him as Minister of State simultaneously in the portfolios of Finance, Economy and Trade, and Mining.^[3][4][5] He held these offices until 15 September 1960, with a brief interruption in 1959 when he traveled to the United States and Europe, during which time engineer Eduardo Figueroa Geisse served as acting minister.^[1]

Politically independent and a moderate liberal, Vergara promoted a program aimed at stabilizing the national budget, achieving a relative control of inflation, which declined from 33 percent in 1959 to 5.4 percent in 1960 and 9.7 percent in 1961.^[6] He was known for his strong and authoritarian personality. Despite this, his administration did not eliminate fiscal deficits: the 1960 fiscal year ended with a deficit equivalent to 3.4 percent of gross domestic product.^[7] This situation was further aggravated by the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, which forced the government to allocate approximately 10 percent of the public budget to national reconstruction efforts.^[7]

While in office, Vergara was also subject to an impeachment for allegedly having "gravely compromised the economic security and honor of the nation".^[8] The accusation, brought forward by deputies from the Communist Party of Chile and the Socialist Party of Chile, was ultimately rejected.^[9]

As Minister of State, he was also responsible for creating the press room of the Ministry of Finance, commonly known as La Ruca, in reference to Vergara’s nickname.^{[10][note 1]}