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Who was Sebastián Piñera, the former president of Chile who died in a helicopter accident?
Sebastián Piñera, the two term Chilean president, has passed away in a helicopter accident. A look back at his life and career.
Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique, born on December 1, 1949, in Santiago, Chile passed away at the age of 74. He was among the four passengers in a helicopter that crashed in the town of Lago Ranco, located in the Los Ríos region of Chile.
According to former Minister of Education Gerardo Varela, the ex-president, along with his friend Ignacio Guerrero, his sister Magdalena Piñera, and a third individual, were aboard a Robinson R44 helicopter. Chilean media outlets such as ‘ADN Chile’ and ‘La Tercera’ have suggested that the third person on board was Guerrero’s son, but these reports have yet to be confirmed.
Chile and Piñera’s tenure
Sebastián Piñera graduated with a degree in commercial engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. In addition, he earned a degree in economics from Harvard University. Piñera became the first conservative president of Chilean democracy and he served in two non-consecutive periods. After decades of living under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean electorate was weary of electing a right-wing government. During his time as the leader of Chile, Piñera had to lead the country through various natural disasters and social crises.
Elected for the first time in 2010, Piñera was tasked with the enormous rescue operation to save thirty-three miners who had been trapped in San José.
In 2014, socialist Michelle Bachelet became the president and sent Piñera to the opposition, where he remained for another four years. In 2018, Piñera was re-elected as the president of Chile, with his second term coming to an end after massive protests that brought into government the current president, Gabriel Boric. The social unrest in Santiago and other parts of Chile in 2019 is often blamed for Piñera’s loss in the subsequent elections.
The protests were triggered by increases in fares on the public transit systems in the Chilean capital. As a result, many students organized mass demonstrations and evaded paying for the Santiago Metro. The protests eventually turned violent, leading to riots and looting, which forced Piñera to declare a state of emergency and impose curfews. Despite these incidents, his first term saw growth in the Chilean economy.