Mario Montero Schmidt

Mario Montero Schmidt (Santa Cruz, 28 January 1918 – Santiago, 6 January 1962) was a Chilean lawyer, jurist, and politician who served as a minister of state during the second administration of President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo.

Early life

Montero was born in Santa Cruz, Chile, on 28 January 1918, the son of Lindorfo Montero Fuenzalida and María Teresa Schmidt Quezada. He was a grandson of Teodoro Schmidt Weichsel and a nephew of Teodoro Schmidt Quezada and Luis Schmidt Quezada.

He received his primary and secondary education at the Liceo Alemán in Santiago before studying law at the University of Chile. He qualified as a lawyer in 1942, having completed the thesis La expropiación forzosa de la tierra por razón de cultivo. He later specialised in criminal law under Edmund Mezger at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.

Montero published works on criminal law, including an article on the Nuremberg trials in 1946 and a study of the legal thought of Pedro Ortiz Muñoz in 1948.

He married Sigrid Bannach Sichtermann, with whom he had four children: Mario, Tamara, Marcelo, and Sigrid.

Political career

In 1936, Montero and his brother Carlos joined the National Socialist Movement of Chile. Following the movement's dissolution in 1939, he did not join another political party. In 1948, he was a member of the legal defence team representing Carlos Ibáñez del Campo in connection with the alleged Pig trotters plot.

During the second administration of President Ibáñez, Montero was appointed Minister of Lands and Colonisation on 5 June 1954, serving until 6 January 1955. He concurrently served as acting Minister of Agriculture from 14 to 20 November 1954.

Montero was also involved in drafting Decree with Force of Law No. 69 of 1953, which established the Department of Immigration and introduced regulations governing immigration in Chile.

Montero died in Santiago on 6 January 1962, aged 43.