Ricardo Lagos is the former President of Chile (2000-2006). Initially associated with the Partido Radical (PR), Lagos later joined Salvador Allende’s Partido Socialista de Chile (PSCh). Following General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte’s coup d’état in September 1973, Lagos was forced to move to Argentina and later to the United States.

In 1982, Lagos became a member of the Executive Committee of the PSCh, and from 1983 to 1984, he served as President of the Alianza Demócrata (AD), a political force composed of the majority of democratic parties opposed to General Augusto Pinochet’s regime.

In 1984, he led the Comité de Izquierda for Free Elections (CIEL) and became one of the founders of the Partido por la Democracia (PPD). Lagos also served as Minister of Education (1992-1993) and Minister of Public Works (1994-1998).

After his presidential term, he was appointed Special Envoy for Climate Change by the UN Secretary-General in 2007.

A lawyer by training, Lagos worked as a Professor of Economics in the School of Law at the University of Chile and as Director at the University’s Institute of Law.

He also served as Director of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences and as a visiting professor and head of the William R. Kenan Department of Latin American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the United States.

He joined the Global Commission on Drug Policy in 2012.