THREE DAYS OF NATIONAL MOURNING IN CHILE DUE TO THE TRAGIC DEATH OF FORMER PRESIDENT SEBASTIÁN PIÑERA
The Chilean government of Gabriel Boric decreed three days of national mourning for the death of former President Sebastián Piñera, which occurred after the helicopter in which he was traveling crashed in Lago Ranco, Los Ríos Region, on Tuesday afternoon, February 6, 2024.
In an address from La Moneda Palace, Boric said: “It is with deep sorrow that I would like to express my condolences. I conveyed them especially to his daughters, to his family, to all those close to him and to those who were part of his two governments. In particular, I extend a warm fraternal embrace to his wife Cecilia Morel, to his children Magdalena, Cecilia, Sebastián and Cristóbal, and also to all Chilean men and women who receive this news with sorrow and pain”.
Boric gave instructions for Piñera to be dismissed with state funeral honors and decreed national mourning for three days.
The President affirmed that Piñera “contributed from his vision to build great agreements for the good of the country. He was a democrat from the first hour and genuinely sought what he believed was best for the country”.
THE SINIESTRO
Piñera was 74 years old. Shortly before 15:00 today (Chilean time) he was on his way in his helicopter, along with three other people, allegedly to a meeting with a businessman. For reasons that have not yet been established, the aircraft fell into the water as it was crossing the Ilihue sector of the Lago Ranco commune.
The authorities indicated that three people managed to get out by their own means to the shore of the lake. But Piñera, who was apparently piloting the craft, did not have the same luck and was the only one who died in this mishap.
THE POLITICIAN
The Chilean media emol.com presented a profile of the former president. It states that Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique was born on December 1, 1949, in the capital Santiago.
His formal career in politics began when he was elected senator between 1990 and 1998, during the process of the return to democracy. He did it, initially, as an independent, with a quota of Renovación Nacional (RN), a party of liberal conservative line, to which he was affiliated when he won the first election.
RN proclaimed him presidential candidate in 1999, a nomination he later resigned in favor of Joaquín Lavín, of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party.
In 2005 he was again a presidential candidate and reached the second round, where he was defeated by Michelle Bachelet.
In 2010, already under the Coalition for Change banner, he won the presidential elections, where he defeated former president Eduardo Frei, obtaining 51.56% of the votes. At the end of his first term, in 2014, he devoted himself to the foundations Futuro and Avanza Chile.
In 2017 he ran again as a presidential candidate. He won for the second time and governed from 2018 until 2022, when he handed over power to the current president Gabriel Boric.
THE ENTREPRENEUR
In 1971, Sebastián Piñera graduated as an economist from the Pontificia Universidad Católica, in Chile. And at Harvard University, in the United States, he received his doctorate in Economics.
He began his business career as a consultant. In 1978 he created his first company: the construction company Toltén. He also worked at Banco de Talca. And in 1979 he created Bancard, institution through which he brought to Chile the Visa and Master Card.
In addition to his participation in banking, real estate, health, publishing and tourism, he had an outstanding intervention in the aeronautical business. In 1994 he acquired 16% of the shares of Lan Chile (now Latam). He focused on the international expansion of that company.
In 2023, Forbes magazine ranked him and his family in fifth place among the families with the highest wealth in Chile, with a fortune estimated at US$ 2.9 billion, according to emol.com.
THE HOST AT THE FIRST PUBLISHERS’ CONGRESS
In 2012, the first Congress of Publishers of Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean took place. The venue was Santiago de Chile.
The Chilean government was presided over by Sebastián Piñera, who gave his full support to the realization of that first intercontinental meeting, from which over the years EditoRed emerged, which is now preparing to hold its seventh publishers’ congress.
On that occasion, President Piñera hosted a dinner for the congress participants at the Palacio de La Moneda, where he shared his views and concerns regarding relations between Latin America and Europe.
EditoRed expresses its solidarity with Sebastián Piñera’s family and with the Chilean people in the face of this unfortunate loss. Peace on his grave.
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