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 He
was born on March 2nd, 1938 in Santiago de Chile. In 1960 he graduated
as a Lawyer at the Universidad de Chile. Between 1961 and 1963 he
studied at the Duke University (USA) obtaining, in 1969, a Ph.D in
Economics.
Mr. Lagos was the General Secretary to the
Universidad de Chile in the period 1969 – 1971. In 1973, he became
General Secretary to the Latin-American Faculty of Social Science (FLACSO)
based in Buenos Aires. In 1974 he moved to the USA to work as Visiting
Professor in the Chapel Hill University (North Carolina).
During the 1980’s the former President of the
Republic had an outstanding participation in the democracy recovery
process in Chile, leading the opposition coalition Democratic Alliance
(AD) and the Independent Committee for Free Elections (CIEL). Likewise,
he stood out as Founder and first President of the Party for Democracy (PPD),
one of the most important political groups in the country nowadays.
Between 1990 and 1993, Mr. Lagos was Minister of
Education under the government of Mr. Patricio Aylwin, and in the period
1994-1998 - under the government of Mr. Eduardo Frei- he was appointed
Minister of Civil Works.
On 16th January 2000, Ricardo Lagos was elected
President of the Republic for a term ending on March 11th, 2006.
On March 13th 2006, Mr. Lagos created the Fundacion
Democracia y Desarrollo (Foundation for Democracy and Development) of
which he is its President.
In April 2006 he formally took up his post as
president of the Club de Madrid.
In april 2006 he was bestowed with the Honorary
Doctor Degree at he Universidad de Córdova in Spain, and in September
same year, the Berkeley University in the United States, awarded him
with the Berkeley Medal. In April 2007, he is was bestowed with the
Honorary Doctor Degree at the Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM).
He is married to Luisa Durán and has five children
and six grandchildren.
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