Ernesto Pinto Lagarrigue (Santiago, 15 September 1918 â Santiago, 25 September 1977) was a Chilean engineer and politician. He served as a Minister of StateâÂÂin the Ministry of Public WorksâÂÂduring the government of President Jorge Alessandri between 1960 and 1964.
Pinto was the son of lawyer and stockbroker Ernesto Pinto Bolados and Inés Lagarrigue Rengifo. On his paternal side, he descended from an aristocratic family originating in La Serena and the Elqui Valley. He had three siblings: Fernando, Eduardo, and MarÃÂa Inés.
He completed his primary and secondary education at the German School of Santiago and later pursued higher studies at the University of Chile, where he qualified as a civil engineer in 1941.
He worked as an engineer at the firm Echenique y Hurtado, as well as at the state-owned Corporation for the Promotion of Production (Corfo).
Between 1959 and 1960, he served as executive vice president of the Housing Corporation (Corvi) during the presidency of Jorge Alessandri. On 15 September 1960, Alessandri appointed him to replace Pablo Pérez Zañartu as Minister of Public Works. He remained in office until the end of the administration in November 1964, during which time he oversaw the national reconstruction process following the devastating 1960 Valdivia earthquake, which had occurred shortly before his appointment. Concurrently, between 14 and 26 September 1963, he also served as acting Minister of Agriculture.
He additionally held the positions of first vice president of the Society for Manufacturing Development (Sofofa) and president of the Central Savings Bank.
Decades later, he served as campaign manager for Jorge Alessandri in the 1970 Chilean presidential election.