José Lino Vargas was born on 6 March 1930 in Pichilemu, in current Cardenal Caro Province, Region of O'Higgins, Chile.

His parents were Lino de los Ángeles Vargas Martínez and Elena del Carmen Jorquera Cifuentes.

[3] Vargas married Ruth Claudina del Tránsito Waman Becerra (born 10 April 1949) in Rancagua on 4 December 1968.

[4] Vargas Jorquera was appointed Mayor of Pichilemu, by decree of the government junta presided by General Augusto Pinochet, in 1979.

[9] On 19 December 1969, a Boeing 727 plane, making a Santiago-Arica-Santiago trip for LAN, was hijacked by extremist Patricio Alarcón, who took controller of aerial traffic Vargas Jorquera as hostage; pilots Juan Jofré, Luis Galdámez, Amaron Bamón and co-pilot Víctor Escudero obeyed Alarcón's orders to travel to Cuba.