My obligation as president, and what I promise the country, is that the courts will be able to do their job free of all pressure.

He was succeeded on March 11 2006 by Socialist Michelle Bachelet from the same coalition. Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar (Spanish pronunciation: [riˈkaɾðofɾoiˈlanˈlaɤoseskoˈβaɾ]; March 2 1938) is a lawyer economist and social democrat politician who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. He teaches political and economic development at Brown University in the United States.