Chilean ex-President Sebastian Pinera died in a helicopter
crash on Tuesday, sending the country he led for two terms into mourning and
prompting an outpouring of condolences from leaders across Latin America.
The helicopter carrying Pinera, 74, and three others plunged
into a lake in southern Chile.
The former president was pronounced dead shortly after rescue
personnel arrived at the scene. The other three passengers survived.
Two sources told Reuters Pinera was the pilot, although
officials have not confirmed that, nor the helicopter’s intended destination.
Pinera often spent the Southern Hemisphere summers near the
picturesque lakes that dot Chile’s south, and frequently piloted his own
helicopter.
People gather as a medical transport vehicle carrying the
body of Chile’s former President Sebastian Pinera arrives at a medical facility
after Pinera died in a helicopter crash, in Valdivia, Chile.
President Gabriel Boric declared three days of national mourning,
while preparations have begun for a state funeral on Friday for the former
leader, who served two non-consecutive terms between 2010 and 2022.
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Interior Minister Carolina Toha said the ex-president’s body
had been recovered from the lake, near the town of Lago Ranco.
“We remember him for the way he dedicated his life to public
service,” said Toha, who has been helping to lead efforts to battle deadly
wildfires in recent days.
Pinera was perhaps best known abroad for his role overseeing
the spectacular rescue in 2010 of 33 miners who were trapped underneath the
Atacama Desert. The event became a global media sensation and was the subject
of a 2014 movie, “The 33.”
In Chile, he was known as a successful businessman whose
first term was boosted by rapid economic growth but who was often seen as
out-of-touch with the country’s fast-changing society.
Both his presidencies were marred by frequent protests – of students demanding
education reform in the first term, and of wider and often violent protests
against inequality in his second term that ended with the government promising
to draft a new constitution.
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After leaving the presidency, Pinera remained active in
politics, speaking out on issues like the attempt to draft a new constitution –
which ultimately failed – and backing conservative politicians in the region,
including Argentine President Javier Milei.
Former Argentine President Mauricio Macri expressed his
sadness at the news of Pinera’s death. “He was a good person, committed like no
one else to Chile and to the values of freedom and democracy in Latin America,”
he said.
BUSINESS SUCCESS
The son of a prominent centrist politician, Pinera was a Harvard-trained
economist who made his fortune introducing credit cards to Chile in the 1980s.
He was also a major shareholder in the flagship airline
formerly known as LAN, local soccer team Colo-Colo, and a television station,
although he sold most of those holdings when he took over the presidency in
March 2010. As of 2024, he was ranked 1,176 on Forbes’ global rich list, with a
net worth of $2.7 billion.
Known for a driven and competitive personality, one friend
described Pinera as someone who could be a bully, reluctant to delegate
responsibility.
He was also a risk-taker who enjoyed deep-sea diving.
Running for election to the presidency after a spell as a center-right senator,
he wooed moderate voters by portraying himself as the leader of a new right and
an entrepreneur who made his fortune with hard work.
At the same time, he distanced himself from the 1973-1990
rule of General Augusto Pinochet, when more than 3,000 suspected leftists were
killed or “disappeared.”
He lost his first attempt at the top job in 2005 to popular
center-left leader Michelle Bachelet, but she was barred constitutionally from
running for a second consecutive term and in 2009 he beat ex-president Eduardo
Frei by a small margin.
That ended the 20-year rule of the center-left and fended off
the bitter memories of Pinochet’s bloody dictatorship that had hurt the right
in past elections.
His honeymoon with the electorate was short-lived, though,
and his stiff manner contrasted with the more amiable Bachelet, who both
preceded and succeeded him as president.
Despite plaudits for his government’s economic record, many
Chileans felt he did not do enough to tackle deep inequality or address
inadequacies in the country’s education system.
Pinera and his wife Cecilia Morel had four children.
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