Guillermo Rivera Cotapos
Guillermo Rivera Cotapos (1867 – 7 March 1928) was a Chilean lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile and the Senate of Chile.
Initially associated with the Liberal Democratic Party and later with the Liberal Party, Rivera represented Valparaíso and Casablanca in the Chamber of Deputies before serving as senator for Valparaíso from 1909 to 1915 and again from 1918 to 1924.
Biography
Rivera was born in Concepción in 1867, the son of Ramón Rivera and Catalina Cotapos. He studied humanities at the Instituto Nacional and law at the University of Chile, qualifying as a lawyer in 1889. He married Zulema Baeza Infante, with whom he had four children.
He entered public service in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1884 and later served as head of its Diplomatic and Consular Office and as undersecretary during the Chilean Civil War of 1891. He was also private secretary to President José Manuel Balmaceda. After the conflict, he settled in Valparaíso and practiced law.
Rivera was elected deputy for Valparaíso and Casablanca in 1900 and was reelected in 1903 and 1906. He served as Minister of Justice and Public Instruction from 1904 to 1905.
In 1909, he was elected senator for Valparaíso for the 1909–1915 term. During the administration of Ramón Barros Luco, he served as Minister of the Interior from May to August 1912. He later returned to the Senate for the 1918–1924 term.
Rivera was also active in journalism and civic organizations in Valparaíso, where he directed and edited the newspaper El Día. He died there on 7 March 1928.