Roberto Infante Rengifo (Santiago, 9 July 1918 – Santiago, 17 September 1995) was a Chilean agronomist and politician who served as a minister of state during the second administration of President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo.
Early life Infante was born in Santiago, Chile, on 9 July 1918, one of five children of Gabriel Infante Infante, a member of the Conservative Party, and Rosa Rengifo Reyes. He attended the Liceo Alemán in Santiago from 1924 to 1934 before studying at the Faculty of Agronomy of the University of Chile. He graduated as an agronomist in October 1939 with a thesis entitled El pH en el vino.
On 8 December 1947, Infante married María González in Santiago. They had six children.
Political career Infante entered public service in 1940, during the administration of President Pedro Aguirre Cerda, working as an engineer for the Ministry of Agriculture. He left the ministry the following year and subsequently worked as a technician for the Cooperativa Vitivinícola del Valle Central.
In May 1953, during the second administration of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, Infante was appointed director of the Ministry of Agriculture's Department of Oenology and Viticulture. A member of the Partido Agrario Laborista (PAL), he was appointed Minister of Agriculture on 6 January 1955, serving until 31 May of that year. He subsequently served on the board of the Central Bank of Chile from 1955 to 1959. Infante returned to the cabinet on 13 March 1957 as Minister of Economy and Commerce, resigning on 23 April 1957.
Following the dissolution of the PAL in 1958, Infante joined the Christian Democratic Party (PDC). He supported Eduardo Frei Montalva in the 1964 Chilean presidential election and, following Frei's election, was appointed vice-president of Banco del Estado de Chile, serving until 1970. From 1969 to 1970, he concurrently served as executive vice-president of the Instituto de Desarrollo Agropecuario (INDAP).
Infante was a member of the Sociedad Agronómica de Chile, the Círculo Español, the Club de la Unión, the Automóvil Club, and the Colegio de Ingenieros Agrónomos de Chile. He died in Santiago on 17 September 1995, aged 77.
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