Former president Sebastián Piñera met his death while trying to reach the shore of Lake Ranco, aboard a helicopter with three companions. His intention was to have lunch with his friend José Cox where he would spend the followingnoon. For reasons that are being investigated, the ship capsized.
After the widespread impact that the news immediately caused throughout the country, following 3:30 p.m. authorities confirmed the news. Later, the official version of the accident came through a statement from the General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC) reporting that “at approximately 3:30 p.m. local time, the CC-PHP helicopter, in the vicinity of the Ilhue sector, Lago Ranco, Los Ríos region, following takeoff and following a few minutes, it capped at the place with four people on board, among whom was former president Sebastián Piñera Echeñique, who died in this unfortunate accident.”
Likewise, he added that “the rest of the occupants of the aircraft managed to survive” and that officials from the Accident Investigation Department of the DGAC are heading to the sector to begin the corresponding investigation.
According to press reports, the former president was at the controls of the device, was trapped by the seat belt and sank into the lake. His body was rescued by Navy and Firefighters personnel.
The president, Gabriel Boric, defined Sebastián Piñera as a “democrat from the first hour” and said that the former president 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,” the president, who declared three days of national mourning, said in a national message.
Private and public career
The Spanish agency Efe carried out a complete profile of the life and career of the two-time president.
He was born in Santiago, on December 1, 1949. During his childhood he lived for four years in the United States, a country where his father, José Piñera, was assigned as a diplomat.
He graduated in Economics from the Catholic University and then followed a master’s degree and a doctorate in that discipline from Harvard University (USA).
In the seventies and eighties he worked as a professor of Economics at Harvard universities, as well as at the national universities of Chile, the Católica and the Adolfo Ibáñez.
In 1978 he entered the business world as general manager of Banco de Talca, and two years later he moved to Citicorp Chile, where he successively held the positions of general manager and president until 1987. In those years, he promoted the credit card market in his country with the creation of Bancard and Fincard, through which he circulated Visa and MasterCard cards in Chile for the first time.
At the end of the eighties he entered politics through the Democratic Renewal party (RN) and supported the “NO” in the plebiscite in October 1988 once morest Pinochet remaining eight more years in power.
In the December 1989 elections he was elected senator for Santiago.
In September 1992, when he aspired to be elected in the RN internal elections for the presidential elections the following year, he had to withdraw from the race following a conversation was disclosed in which he disqualified his co-religionist and opponent for the position Evelyn Matthei. (“Piñeragate”).
Since then he chaired the Futuro Foundation, dedicated to studies and surveys on social issues. Furthermore, between May 2001 and March 2004 he chaired RN.
On March 11, 2010, he received the presidential sash and days later he launched the plan to reconstruct the country and to get it out of underdevelopment, “Let’s Lift Chile.”
On March 11, 2014, he handed over the Presidency of the Republic to the socialist Michelle Bachelet and dedicated part of his time to the “Chile Avanza” Foundation.
He was very critical of Bachelet’s management and in March 2017 he was proclaimed presidential candidate. He won the presidential election in the second round on December 17, with 54.57% of the votes, compared to Guillier’s 45.43%. On March 11, 2018 he succeeded Michelle Bachelet.
His second term was marked by the violent crisis that began in October 2019, with the death of at least 24 people in demonstrations, and which was resolved with the opening of a constituent process.
His last days in the Moneda were clouded following it was revealed on October 3, 2021 that his name appeared in the “Pandora Papers”, for negotiating in the British Virgin Islands in 2010 in the sale of the controversial Dominga mining megaproject. He argued that for 12 years he had not participated in the administration of any company and that the case was investigated in 2017 and filed.
The Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation and on October 13 the opposition presented the constitutional accusation (impeachment) seeking his dismissal. On November 9, it was approved by the Chamber of Deputies, but it failed on the 16th in the Senate.
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