Santiago, Feb 6 (EFE).- The death of Chile’s former president Sebastián Piñera in a helicopter crash on Tuesday has generated great commotion in the country trying to recover from the deadly wildfires that devastated Valparaíso at the weekend, killing at least 131 people.
Renovacion Nacional militants light candles at the party headquarters in support of the former president of Chile Sebastión Piñera today, in Santiago, Chile, on Feb. 6, 2024. EFE/ Ailen Diaz
At 3.30 pm local time (18:30 GMT), the helicopter in which the 74-year-old was traveling with three other people, crashed shortly after take-off into Lake Ranco. The area is tourist resort about 780 kilometers south of Santiago, where he used to spend summers with his family.
«This fact moves us and mourns us as a country in especially difficult circumstances due to the tragedy of the fires that have hit many of our compatriots just recently,» President Gabriel Boric said on national television, defining Piñera as a “Democrat from the first hour.”
According to local media, the former president was piloting the plane in heavy rain, and was unable to unfasten his seat belt when it sank into the lake. The three passengers managed to swim to safety.
Interior Minister Carolina Tohá reported that the navy recovered the body of the former leader, a successful businessman whose fortune is one of the largest in Latin America and who governed Chile during two periods, 2010-2014 and 2018-2022.
Shortly after the news broke, members of the public turned up at the doors of both his summer home in Ranco and his main home, in the wealthy capital city neighborhood of Las Condes, to leave flowers and send condolences to his family.
«Despite the opinion of some and others, what we can say about President Piñera is that he was a statesman, that he worked a lot for Chile and that he has left a huge void in politics,» Carlos Vega, a boiler operator who participated in the improvised tribute, told EFE.
Marcela Saéz, a retired teacher who also turned up at Las Condes, said that he «gave everything for Chile» and «was a man of the center who approved laws, even though they were not his political beliefs.”
There were also rallies at the gates of Renovación Nacional, the party that he helped found and with which in 2010 he became the first conservative to come to power since the return to democracy, after four center-left governments.
«I have always pointed out that he is the most intelligent man I have ever met,» said Evelyn Matthei, a close friend of the family and mayor of the capital’s Providencia neighborhood.
Karla Rubilar, who was minister and spokesperson during his second term, assured that Piñera «was very concerned about the fires and (on Monday) asked us in a meeting to make ourselves available to the government.»
Condolences also poured in from world leaders, such as France’s Emmanuel Macron, who defined him as «a tireless force for the growth and development of his country,” and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who recalled «his strong position regarding the condemnation of the Russian invasion.”
«Together we made COP25 possible at a crucial moment in the fight against the climate emergency. Rest in peace,» said Pedro Sánchez, president of the government of Spain.
Condolences also came from governments of Cuba, Nicaragua, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, and the United States, as well as the Organization of American States and the European Union, among others.
Boric, who held strong differences with Piñera, especially as a result of the social protests, assured in his message that he «contributed, from his vision, to building great agreements for the good of the country.»
«He genuinely sought what he believed was best for the country,» said the president, who among his achievements highlighted the reconstruction after the earthquake of February 2010, the rescue of the 33 miners and «the management of the pandemic in times of uncertainty worldwide.”
For Mireya Dávila, a political scientist at the University of Chile, his arrival at La Moneda «meant democratic normality for a right-wing heir to the dictatorship,» she told EFE.
Piñera’s second term was marked by the wave of protests in 2019, which left around 30 people dead as well as human rights violation accusations against the security forces.
His management of the protests, interrupted by the pandemic, caused his and his government’s approval ratings to plummet.
«The conflicts of interest between his business and politics are part of his shadow. Another complex issue was his foreign policy and his approach to the Venezuelan opposition, which implied an increase in illegal immigration to Chile,» Claudio Fuentes, political scientist from the Diego Portales University, told EFE.
Ascanio Cavallo, national journalism award winner, told EFE that “from a center-right position, he maintained the emphasis on economic growth and did not modify the policies on human rights and other related matters that the center-left had carried out.”
A funeral with state honors will take place in the coming days. EFE
mmm/tw
