Federico Errázuriz Echaurren (Santiago, November 16, 1850 – Valparaíso, July 12, 1901) was a Chilean politician who served as the 12th President of Chile. Early life He was son of the president Federico Errázuriz Zañartu and of Eulogia Echaurren García-Huidobro. He studied at San Ignacio School of Santiago de Chile and in the National Institute of Santiago, where he received a bachelor's degree. He was joined the University of Chile where he became a lawyer on March 23, 1873. In 1875 he married Gertrudis Echeñique Mujica, a direct descendant of the governor of Chile Martín de Mujica, of whom she was the last heir of the El Huique; They had six children: Juan José, Elena, Federico, Eulogia, Jorge and María Jesús. Errázuriz Echaurren joined the Liberal Party and started his political life in 1876, when he was elected as a deputy for Constitución. He was reelected in 1879 and was characterized as a centrist politician. He did not participate in the campaigns of the War of the Pacific, preferring instead to remain in his hacienda, but during the religious controversies between Church and State under President Domingo Santa María, he joined the conservative forces. In August 1890, President José Manuel Balmaceda named him Minister of War and Navy, under the conciliation cabinet of Belisario Prats; but when Prats resigned his position, so did Errázuriz, and both joined the opposition. In 1891 he was one of the signers of the Act of Deposition of Presidente Balmaceda. Even so, he did not participate in the 1891 Chilean Civil War. After the end of the civil war, he was elected deputy for Cauquenes and Constitución (1891–1894). His ill-health forced him to travel to Germany, in search of specialists. During a year and a half, he travelled through Europe, even visiting Pope Leo XIII. He returned to Chile and in 1894 was elected Senator for Maule and designed Minister of Justice and Public Instruction, under President Jorge Montt. Presidency After a very contested election, Errázuriz Echaurren was elected President and assumed power on September 18, 1896. He took over office at the age of 46, but by then he already was showing the symptoms of the illness that was going to kill him before the end of his mandate. Both his supporters and the opposition considered him a man of great political cunning, but while his supporters saw him as a true patriot, the