Eligio (Kika) de la Garza was born on September 22, 1927 in Mercedes, Texas.

De la Garza attained his Doctor of Jurisprudence from St. Mary’s University Law School, in San Antonio, Texas. He is a member of the Texas State Bar Association and was admitted to practice in the Federal Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kika served six consecutive terms in the Texas House of Representatives before spending thirty-two years as a leading U.S. Congressman from Texas, in addition to working twelve years in the practice of law. The first Hispanic Congressman elected from Texas’ 15th District, Kika served as Chairman of the Congressional Agriculture Committee from 1981-1994. He played a large role in overhauling the agricultural lending system, implementing Federal farm crop insurance and commodity futures reform, reorganizing the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and providing numerous aid packages for American and international agriculture. Additionally during his time in Congress Kika co-founded the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

As an expert on national and international law related to agriculture and commerce, he played a major role in expanding trade with Japan, the former Soviet Union, China, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East. A skilled and multilingual communicator de la Garza has developed close working relationships with top-level government officials throughout the world.