Germán Riesco Errázuriz (Spanish pronunciation: [xeɾˈman ˈrjesko]; May 28, 1854 – December 8, 1916) was a Chilean political figure, and he served as President of Chile between 1901 and 1906.

At the age of 17 (four years before graduating as a lawyer) he obtained his first public job as a clerk at the ministry of Justice, in order to help support his family financially.

After the sudden death of president Federico Errázuriz Echaurren and due to the proximity of the presidential elections, he was proclaimed candidate by the Liberal Alliance, on March 8, 1901.

Nonetheless, he was elected by a huge majority of votes, thanks mainly to the fact that he had almost no political exposure, since most of his life had been spent in the judiciary.

He greatly expanded secondary education, especially for women, and doubled the number of Normal Schools for the preparation of new teachers.

Due to the rising inflation, he was forced to refuse a return to the metallic conversion, and to authorize a new emission of paper money.

He signed a final peace treaty with Bolivia on October 20, 1904, putting an official end to the War of the Pacific.

He also re-established diplomatic relations with Peru in 1906, in order to move ahead on the solution of the Tacna and Arica controversy; and gave the first impulse to establishing a claim to Antarctica, by issuing a law regimenting seal-hunting there.

Between 1903 and 1905, there were a great many strikes in different areas: miners, ship-loaders and railroad workers in the north of the country; house-painters, tanners, postal workers, policemen, garbage collectors and bus drivers in Santiago; coal miners in La Calera, Lebu, Lota and Coronel, ship-loaders in Valparaíso; most of which ended in deaths and injuries of the protesters.

By the time the march had arrived peacefully to La Moneda and asked for an audience with President Riesco, it had already swelled to about 25 to 30 thousand people.

The people started to grow impatient when the president didn't appear, and when the police tried to dissolve them, they fought back and tried to storm the presidential palace.

The workers that were laying the rails for the Antofagasta-Bolivia railroad presented a letter of demands to management, that was completely refused by the company.

The previous experience with the Meat riots alerted the government, that decided to send in the Esmeralda regiment and the cruise-ship Blanco Encalada to reinforce the local forces.