Eliodoro Yáñez

Who was Eliodoro Yáñez?

Eliodoro Yáñez Ponce de León was a Chilean journalist, lawyer, and politician, and was one of the founders of La Nación newspaper. He also served several times as minister and as President of the Senate of Chile.

Yáñez was born in Santiago, the son of Manuel Antonio Yañez and of María Josefa Ponce de León. He coursed his liberal arts studies at the Instituto Nacional, and then enrolled in the Universidad de Chile, where he pursued a career in Law. He obtained his degree as a lawyer in 1883. He soon became known as one of the most versed men around when it came to knowledge and interpretation of laws, and he also had very sound reasoning; the cases he won in court, where he was highly respected, are thanks to these qualities. His level of prestige was such that his opinions were considered decisive, and were sought out by professionals and magistrates for the resolution of complicated matters.

His unquestionable calling as a jurist led him to develop, along with Ricardo Passi Garcia, a Compilation of Current Laws and Decrees, which was very well received. At the same time, he published articles in several different newspapers, most of them judicial in nature