Although a week has passed since that death, many Chileans inactive cannot believe it. Sebastián Piñera – the erstwhile president of Chile and 1 of the most crucial right-wing figures in South America – died in a chopper accident.
A disaster occurred in Lake Ranco, in the south of the country. 3 co-passenger politicians – his sister Magdalena and a friendly entrepreneur Ignacio Guerrero and his boy – survived a terrible flight. They were warned in time by pilot Piñera and managed to jump out of the device just before the fall. The erstwhile president, who most likely didn't get his seat belts off, drowned in the lake.
His death occurred at a peculiarly hard time for Chile, after a week of powerful fires, which became 1 of the top natural disasters that this country has experienced in fresh years. To the top extent, they affected the central part of the coast, including the cities of Viña del Mar, Quilpué and Limache. Since early February, in little than a week, more than 15,000 homes have been destroyed, at least 131 residents have died, over 370 people are considered missing. The fire consumed about 560,000 square kilometres of forests, parks and residential areas.
On the day before the accident, Piñer spoke to current president Gabriel Boric, offering assistance in rescue actions and organizing financial support. On February 6, his abrupt departure for a minute overshadowed the tragedy of thousands of Chileans. any have enjoyed it. respective 100 people in Santiago went out to celebrate on the streets, and in the heart of the capital of Plaza Italia it was filled with a chanting crowd. Among many residents, sadness prevailed – and above all surprise. The 74-year-old Piñera, whose 2 terms included respective natural disasters, the largest social revolt in the past of the country, and the hard months of the pandemic, seemed indestructible.
A Recipe for Success
He headed the state twice – between 2010 and 2014 and 2018–2022. He was the first democratically elected president of Chile to represent the right since 1958. Sam frequently distanced himself from the right-wing environment, considered himself a average conservative.
In his youth, he was a supporter of the centred chades. In 1980 he participated in a loud Caupolicanazo, an event organised by Christian Democracy as a sign of protest against the government and the plan of the Pinochet Constitution. He kept a distance to his older brother José Piñera, who was the author of the private pension strategy AFP and minister during the dictatorship period, considered 1 of the main creators neoliberal model.
In 1988, during a celebrated referendum that led to the collapse of the regime, Sebastián Piñera again advocated the "clear side of power": he opted for the option "no" for Pinochet's further rule, "yes" for democratic elections. He defended this attitude against another right-wing representatives—including his own brother—and frequently remained alone in his sentence.
However, a year later, in the election that sealed the final of the dictatorship, he became the head of Hernán Büchi's run – 1 of the neoliberal “Chicago Boys” and a few-time minister in the government of Pinochet. And in subsequent years and during both tenure, despite being cut off from the hard, historical right, he frequently surrounded himself with figures associated with the government once. This skillful balance, for any who are synonymous with political talent, for another political slipperyness, has become Piñera's hallmark. The erstwhile president had the opinion of a individual who could "get along with anyone" – a symbol of which was the agreement with the opposition, concerning the beginning of the constitutional process he signed in November 2019. That's what started the event. reference cycle, intended for adoption new Constitution, which would replace the current government (which yet did not happen).
In 2009, erstwhile he won the presidential election for the first time, the country had been ruled by the centreleft coalition Concertación for 2 decades – a mix of fewer "new" faces and much more many representatives of the erstwhile anti-Pinochetian opposition. The figure of the hated dictator has long been a binder of leftist environments in Chile. But in 2009, the common enemy was gone, the general died 3 years earlier. The left besides lacked a strong leader, and her candidate, erstwhile president Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, had small charisma and equally small public support. So the right side had a facilitated task, and in addition a large group of politicians who in the years of the government did not regulation – specified as Piñera.
To the right, and even tired of the twenty-year regulation of the centre-left electorate center, he seemed to be the perfect candidate. He was the personification of the erstwhile elite, which gained its position and privileges long before the military coup. He was a typical of the National Renevación Nacional – right-wing formation, but not Pinochetowska. Conservative, but not utmost and fundamentalist.
Despite political experience and household relationships, Piñera's presidential career began as an entrepreneur. He was always seen primarily as hombre de negocios — A business man. At the time of winning the election he remained for respective years the richest man in the country, the largest shareholder of the state-owned LAN airline, the owner of the Chilevisión tv station and respective another companies. He was then 60 years old and a luck estimated at over $2.2 billion. And besides the diplomas of 2 prestigious colleges: a master's degree in Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and a doctorate in Harvard.
Architect and lifeguard
"I am not a candidate of the past, I want to be an architect of the future," he said in a message in 2010, practicing a grin that did not get off his face for years to come, even at the most hard moments.
Two weeks before the inauguration of his rule, on February 27, 2010, 1 of the strongest earthquakes in past occurred here – it had a strength of about 8.8 on the Richter scale and consumed 525 fatalities. Over 500,000 homes were destroyed throughout central and confederate Chile. Schools, factories, ports, fields, roads and highways were devastated. It is estimated that the country lost nearly $30 billion as a consequence of the 27-F (as the tragedy was described) and the restoration of the state before the cataclysm would take at least 1 term.
When taking office, Piñera was aware of it. He announced, "It will not be the earthquake rule, it will be the reconstruction rule." Adding animus with an excessive motion that became his hallmark, the fresh president calmed his fellow countrymen: “We will rebuild Chile after the disaster. We will get our country back on its feet!’
Despite this grin and optimistic announcements (or possibly due to them) many residents had no trust in Piñera. They were irritated by his (not always natural) looseness and fake proximity to the remainder of society. Piñera liked to pretend to be “of the people.” On all possible occasion, he willingly emphasized the “simple” of his tastes, and on the holidays of independency he dressed himself willingly in folk costumes.
What irritated the Chileans even more was the public blunder of the president. The first fell at the beginning of the first term: Piñera mentioned the fresh earthquake drama and alternatively maremoto (seabed quake) said marepoto. This was a misconception, which, however, sounded comical, due to the fact that the word “pot” is referred to in Chile... as a butt. A wave of criticism rapidly fell on politics, which did not quiet down until attention began to attract further lapsus. The mistakes and mistakes of this kind were so many that they deserved the word coined by the countrymen – piñericos (piñerisms) .
However, many Chileans believed that the fresh president – an entrepreneur and alleged successful man – was the best cure for what happened to their sore homeland. Piñera, celebrated for his workaholism, took his time. He announced a program of financial support for the most deprived residents, offered to build more than 40,000 temporary homes and announced the construction of over 200 000 houses over the next 4 years (the task managed to implement to a tiny extent).
In the first months of his rule, the Chileans could see in the media a brave president who ran among debris in a yellow protective helmet, hugged broken residents, greeted representatives of local authorities. The glued grin did not come off his face, the destroyed cities turned into a construction site, and the rates of popularity grew.
A fewer months later, on August 5, 2010, another disaster came. As a consequence of the melting in the San José mine in the north of the country, thirty-three miners were trapped more than 600 metres underground. This is simply a peculiarly symbolic accident for this mining country, which has been intensely publicized by the media since the beginning. Though the chance to save men was bordered by a miracle, with bravado action 70 days after the accident a happy ending came. The determined Piñera set himself the goal of bringing all men to the top – no substance what time, cost and devoted energy. The president's associates mentioned years later that this operation became an obsession.
The political benefits of both rescue actions did not take long. The reconstruction of the country after the demolition and the successful operation in the mine, broadcast worldwide, provided the president with an opinion of an effective and solid leader, proving himself in the most hard crisis situations. In a word: the opinion of a man perfect for ruling a state that cataclysms have inscribed in DNA.
This page of his image, in addition to obscure financial entanglements and many misconceptions and misconceptions, is stuck in the awareness of the Chileans. It besides became 1 of the decisive factors for winning Piñera in the 2017 election. The fact that he faced a small charismatic opponent helped – this time it was Alejandro Guillier. Never after, Piñera's regulation enjoyed the same support as then.
King in the land of inequality
For many, he was not a political leader, but, above all, 1 of the wealthiest Chileans, and with unexplained corruption issues in his account. In fresh years he has been accused, among others, of participating in the questionable privatisation of 1 of the mining companies. Prior to that, the circumstances of the buy-out of Chilean Talca Bank, which went bankrupt, were suspicious.
Always busy Piñera embodyed the individualism and neoliberalism that possessed the country. He symbolized Chile's smiling, self-satisfaction, who "successed" while many failed at all. Especially symbolic in this context were the circumstances of the death of the erstwhile President, who died behind the rudders of his private helicopter, while flying from 1 summertime residence to another.
Piñera – a man who has been rich all his life – died precisely as he lived. He was met by death, which the vast majority of Chileans, far from his highly privileged reality, could not imagine. This deep and extremist gap between society and the president elected twice seems peculiarly significant. The past of Piñera's financial success – coming from a good family, studying at universities, which fewer of his compatriots can afford – was at the same time a past of the inequality that has prevailed in Chile for generations.
However, this privilege is not an experience in Chile only of millionaires like him. It marks the full political elite, usually coming from better placed families. Chilean parliamentarians, senators and presidents belong to the highest financial caste regardless of whether they represent the right or left side of the stage. Their earnings correspond on average to 37 minimum salaries and are highest among 38 OECD countries. The head of state enjoys this economical privilege throughout his life – after his resignation he receives a life wage of 15 million Chilean pesos (or about $15,000) per month.
Enemy number one.
The memory of Piñer would most likely be different present (maybe a small better) if it wasn't for the unfortunate second term. His last governments consisted mainly of long months of mass protests, which shook Chile in October 2019 – as powerfully as the most powerful terremotos. In a sense, he besides provoked them with his incorrect words and incorrect decisions. These included, among others, justifying violent police violence, bringing troops to the streets and virtually declaring war on their own society, which in a loud speech of October 2019, he called “a powerful and unconvinced enemy”.
Mass demonstrations of Chileans against social inequality were at the same time opposed to his government – full of wealthy technocrats and deaf to the problems of the poorest inhabitants, trivializing their fears, frustrations and needs. Protests only stopped with the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, which on the 1 hand brought many political problems (including conflicts with opposition), on the another hand any successes. The second include a reasonably effective handling of pandemic drama, a fast download of vaccines, and a evidence fast vaccination of a large majority of society.
Even during the pandemic, in 2021, Piñera besides made a rather courageous decision like a conservative: he legalized same-sex marriages and their right to adopt children. He always referred to himself as an ally of LGBT+ environments. He besides stressed the request for a greater openness of the country to immigrants, including from Venezuela (his government created a peculiar "democratic visa" for them in 2018, making it much easier to settle in Chile). With this decision, Piñer has been under the fire of the far right—since then, as in many another countries of the world, utilizing an increased wave of migration for his own populist purposes.
The second word ended with evidence low support, which did not exceed 24 percent. Most of the society could no longer forgive him not only his powerful luck or his irritating character, but besides the political force that occurred during the pacification of protests. On posters, street graffiti, and in popular Song protest many Chileans wished him dead.
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Magdalena Bartczak – writer and reporter, educated as a Polish writer (UW) and filmmaker (UJ). A South American correspondent, mostly from Chile, where she lived for six years. Author of a reporter book Southern Chile. A 1000 troubled islands (Museum Publishing, 2019).
