Rudecindo Ortega

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Rudecindo Ortega Mason (June 3, 1899 – October 10, 1962) was a Chilean lawyer and politician who played a major role in Chile and at the United Nations. He studied law at the University of Chile and began teaching at the Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera in 1923. He led the Education Commission in the Chilean Chamber of Deputies and served as Minister of Education from December 24, 1938, to February 1940 in the first Pedro Aguirre Cerda administration.

Ortega was a deputy from 1926 to 1938 and later a senator for Biobío and Cautín from 1940 to 1949. In 1953, President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo appointed him Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations, a role he held until 1956. He presided over the UN Security Council and led the UN Commission on Human Rights. In 1956, he also served as President of the United Nations General Assembly, overseeing its first and second special emergency sessions.

He belonged to the Radical Party until 1948, then joined the Partido Radical Doctrinario. Ortega Mason was born in Temuco, Chile, and died in Santiago in 1962.