Chile’s former president, Sebastián Piñera, has died in a helicopter crash at the age of 74.
Piñera served as president from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022, leading the country during times of crisis, including the aftermath of an 8.8 magnitude earthquake and tsunami.
He gained fame for his administration’s rescue of trapped Chilean miners in 2010 and his governance during the corona virus pandemic, where Chile was placed among the top five countries for vaccination rates for the illness.
He gained fame for his administration’s rescue of trapped Chilean miners in 2010 and his governance during the corona virus pandemic, where Chile was placed among the top five countries for vaccination rates for the illness.
His legacy is marred by violent police repression in October 2019 against protesters demonstrating against the country’s education, health, and pension systems dating back to the 1973-1990 military dictatorship.
A United Nations investigation alleged that police used force improperly and indiscriminately injuring protesters and that government mistreatment of detainees amounted to torture.
Piñera’s government agenda was postponed to take on emergency reconstruction, and in 2010, he led the unprecedented rescue of 33 miners trapped for 69 days at the bottom of a collapsed mine in the northern Atacama Desert.
Quinton Garrison