Cartoonist. He was a Chilean cartoonist, known for creating the cartoon character "Condorito." Born René Rodolfo Ríos Boettiger, was the eldest of four children to Dr. René Ríos Guzmán and Amanda Boettiger Krause. René Ríos felt a vocation for drawing since infancy. He published his first cartoon at age 7 in a local newspaper in Concepción. Encouraged by his father, he continued with his drawings until he held his first exhibition, at age 10, at the Palet confectionery of his city. In 1932 he moved to Santiago, where he studied at the School of Fine Arts. In said year, he joined comic book "Topaze," where he began to stand out as a skillful and acute cartoonist of political reality. In 1935 he adopted the pseudonym "Pepo," after a childhood nickname. He began working for the comic strip magazine El Jefe, with no more than four vignettes, where he represented his own uncle, President Juan Antonio Ríos, which was described as the first Chilean political comic strip. Other politics caricatured by him were President Gabriel González Videla (as Don Gabito), President Pedro Aguirre Cerda (as Don Pedrito) and Carlos Ibáñez del Campo (as Don Sonámbulo). In 1946 he created and directed the picaresque comic Pobre Diablo where characters such as Don Rodrigo and Viborita were created. He collaborated in many other comic boocks (Can Can, Ganso, El Peneca, El Pingüino, El Saquero, Pichanga, Pobre Diablo, etc.) and he also did several advertising jobs. On August 6, 1949, he created "Condorito," his best-known character. In the film "Saludos Amigos" (1942) by Walt Disney, destined to win over Latin American audiences, a character who represented Chile, "Pedrito," did not like at all to Ríos. Considering that a condor was the most appropriate symbol of the Andean country, he created the character of Condorito as a response to Disney. His first Condorito cartoon was published in the number 1 issue of the Okey magazine, owned by Editorial Zig-Zag, on August 6, 1949. His character crossed borders reaching 13 countries, including the United States. His last years were dedicated to supervising and correcting the material that he had to endorse for the publishers that produced his work. He passed away from a stomach cancer on July 14, 2000, at the age of 88. His ashes were scattered in the sea in front of his house in El Quisco. His creation did not disappear and has become an object of worship.