Former Chilean president Sebastián Piñera died this February 6, at the age of 74, in a helicopter accident in southern Chile. The Government announced three days of national mourning and a state funeral. The former president has been praised for his management in decisive moments during his presidential terms, such as the reconstruction after the 2010 earthquake, the rescue of 33 miners in the Atacama Desert and the management of the pandemic.
The world says goodbye to Sebastian Piñera, first right-wing president in Chile's democratic era. The death of the former Chilean head of state took the entire region by surprise on February 6, when the authorities of Lago Ranco, in the southern region of Los Ríos, reported about a crashed helicopter in the area.
Moments later it was learned that Piñera was the pilot of the aircraft and that he was the only one of the four occupants to lose his life.
“There were four crew members on the helicopter, three of them were able to reach the shore by their own means, they are out of danger. But this was not the case with the fourth crew member, who is former president Sebastián Piñera (…) The Navy was able to arrive to the scene of the accident and recover the body of the former president, who has died,” confirmed Carolina Tohá, Chilean Minister of the Interior.
President of Chile for two periods (2010-2014 and 2018-2022), Sebastián Piñera will remain in the collective memory in the international arena for his neoliberal stance in the opening of the Chilean economy, his efforts in the reconstruction of the country after the earthquake of 2010, the prominence of his figure in the massive protests of 2019 and his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic at the end of his second term.
Between business, politics and football
Born in Santiago on December 1, 1949, Sebastián Piñera was the son of Magdalena Echenique Rozas and José Piñera Carvallo, an active member of the Christian Democratic Party and former ambassador to Belgium and the UN during the presidential period of Eduardo Frei Montalva (1964-1970).
Raised in a privileged family, Piñera completed his higher education at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where he completed a degree in commercial engineering. Years later, in 1973, he emigrated to the United States to enroll in a master's degree at Harvard University, where he also completed a doctorate.
Father of four children with his partner, Cecilia Morel, Sebastián Piñera became one of the richest men in Latin America, accumulating a fortune of about 2.9 billion dollars, according to Forbes magazine.
Among his most successful businesses are being the main shareholder of the airline Lan Chile (now Latam), of the local television channel Chilevisión and in 'Blanco y Negro', a public limited company that controls Colo Colo, one of the most successful soccer clubs. popular in the country.
His political life began in 1988, when he made public his vote against the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Two years later, in 1990, he participated in the founding of the right-wing Popular Renewal party, which brought conservatism, marked by the shadow of the dictatorship, into public life in democracy.
“I remember perfectly well that at that time many of my friends and those who support me today did not share my decision. But I stood firm,” said Sebastián Piñera during an interview with the Chilean newspaper 'La Tercera', in 2010.
An earthquake and the dramatic story of the 33 miners
His path to the Palacio de la Moneda, headquarters of the Chilean Executive, was not easy. In 2005, Piñera ran for the first time as a presidential candidate of the traditional right, achieving only 26.42% of the votes.
The right-winger tried again in the 2009 presidential elections, where he managed to get fully into the race, obtaining 44% of the electoral favor and entered the second round with his closest competitor, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle. Piñera was victorious, with 51% of the votes, assuming the Presidency on March 11, 2010.
But, a month before being sworn in as president, Chile suffered one of the worst earthquakes in its history, forcing Piñera to radically change his government plan to focus his efforts on promoting reconstruction and social support for the victims.
In August of the same year, the eyes of the world once again fell on Chile, after it was reported that 33 miners had been trapped in a sinkhole inside the San José mine, in the harsh Atacama Desert. There were 69 days in which the Piñera Government had to put the rescue efforts into forced gear, starring in one of the most dramatic stories of the year.
“This came out today from the bowels of the mountain, from the depths of this mine and it is the message from our miners who tell us that they are alive, that they are united. I can only say in a moment of such joy: VVAT Chile, shit“!!”, exclaimed the then president after receiving a paper from the miners that read: “We are fine in the shelter, all 33 of us.”
A second term marked by social outbreak
After leaving power in 2014, Piñera returned to the presidential scene in the 2018 elections, where he emerged triumphant for the second time, securing another chapter as head of the Palacio de la Moneda. However, the second part of his story as Chilean president was not as successful as the first.
In 2019, an increase in the price of public transportation caused a massive wave of protests against the conservative Piñera government, the largest since the dictatorship. There, state security forces engaged in violent confrontations with protesters, leading to accusations of repression.
“We are at war against a powerful enemy that respects nothing and no one,” said Piñera in the context of the turbulent moment, where popular approval of his government fell to historic lows. Years later, Piñera classified the social outbreak as an “attempted coup d'état.”
After strong citizen pressure, the then president called a popular referendum to change the Chilean Constitution, inherited from Pinochet's military regime. Although the process failed, it was the one that laid the foundations for future constituent processes, such as the one promoted in 2023 by the Government of Gabriel Boric, which was also discarded by citizens.
In 2020, Piñera's mandate regained a bit of popularity with its handling of the pandemic, being one of the States that most quickly managed the acquisition of vaccines and confined its citizens early, having one of the mortality rates from Covid-19 lowest at that time.
A polarizing figure and object of political debate in the region, Sebastián Piñera is dismissed with respect from the opposition and with affection from Latin American conservatism.
With AFP, EFE and local media
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