José Luis Federici

José Luis Federici Rojas (27 June 1934 — 3 March 2022) was a Chilean commercial engineer and independent politician who held several public offices during the military government of General Augusto Pinochet.

He served as director of the Empresa de Ferrocarriles del Estado (EFE), Minister of Transport and Telecommunications from April 1978 to December 1979, and Minister of Economy between December 1979 and December 1980.

In 1987 he was appointed Rector of the University of Chile. His tenure triggered the well-known Federici Strike, a major student movement opposing the “University Rationalization Plan” (PRU), which sought to reduce staff, close programs, sell assets and reorganize the institution according to neoliberal subsidiarity principles. The protest became a focal point for the democratic opposition ahead of the 1988 Chilean national plebiscite, ultimately forcing his removal and the cancellation of the PRU.

Foreign honours

• Order of the Southern Cross — Grand Cross (, 1980).