The death of Sebastián Piñera Echenique and the political impact

A blow to the right, where he was converted into an articulator and advisor and they even mentioned him as a presidential candidate in 2025. Everything indicates that it leaves a void of leadership or at least of opinion in the opposition and will cause the board of the protagonists to move. They play at the table on the right. For the opposition, this 2024 the former president was going to be one of its spokespersons in the confrontation with the Government and the positioning of the right and its political and electoral advances. A sympathizer at one time with the DC, he was an RN militant and part of the Youth Patrol of that community, facing characters like Jarpa and Cardemil. For that reason and his profile as a financial speculator, he was questioned in the UDI, the military world, by traditional businessmen, Pinochetist segments and de facto powers, but years later he strongly assumed positions of the more traditional and doctrinaire right. In a BBC note it was indicated that Piñera “could not dispel doubts about his past as a businessman, fined by regulators, with allegations of insider information use and linked directly or indirectly to other scandals. But he always denied having acted improperly.” To this day, he maintained his ties with the Latin American and European right by participating in forums and remembers his attempt to gain prominence in the region when he did everything possible to overthrow President Maduro of Venezuela.

Hugo Guzman. Journalist. “The century”. Santiago. 6/2/2024. It is undeniable that the death of Sebastián Piñera Echenique, together with the shock of the event and everything it will produce these days with the State funeral and various reactions, has a political impact.

Especially in the right-wing parties and in the current opposition where he was converted into an articulator and advisor in the face of the municipal and gubernatorial elections, and the presidential challenge of 2025.

In fact, some sectors mentioned him as a possible candidate for the presidency by the Chile Vamos conglomerate in 2025.

Piñera was influencing the reflections and decisions of the right and his voice even reached the far-right Republican Party.

He was involved in the political situation alongside former ministers of his two governments, and he also looked closely at the Government of President Gabriel Boric, with sharp criticism.

It was not long before he gave an interview in some media outlet, he maintained contact with editors and journalists and had public positions during the last constitutional process.

Everything indicates that it leaves a void of leadership or at least of opinion in the opposition and will make the board of the protagonists who play at the table on the right move more.

Furthermore, he persevered in his ties with the Latin American and European right and until recently actively participated in forums and seminars, always, by the way, questioning the left and the progressive or progressive governments.

For the opposition, in 2024 Sebastián Piñera was going to be one of its spokespersons in the confrontation with the Government and the positioning of the right and its political and electoral advances. The voices of right-wing figures in these hours establish him as a leader who was fulfilling his role and impact. Even former minister Karla Rubilar said that the former president had called several collaborators this Monday to analyze what was happening with the forest fires.

Death

Sebastián Piñera Echenique tragically died this day, at the age of 74, when the helicopter he was piloting crashed in Lake Ranco, Los Ríos Region. The accident occurred in the Iliue sector, amid heavy rain and wind. Piñera was piloting the helicopter that he took off after having lunch at the house of businessman José Cox, one of his close friends.

Carabineros received a report at 2:57 p.m., reporting the accident. Firefighters attended the scene and the first report from a fire official indicated that it was a helicopter that had fallen into the lake, with three people who managed to get out and one missing; rescue efforts were carried out. Together with Navy personnel, they were able to rescue the body of the former president.

Television channels, radio stations, Web portals and international press have reported extensively on the details of the accident, reactions from the family, political leaders and authorities. A wealth of information, analysis, interviews, reports, testimonies will continue during these days.

President Gabriel Boric, speaking from La Moneda, said that “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 these days.”

According to the president, Sebastián Piñera “was a democrat from the first hour and genuinely sought what he believed was best for the country.”

“What corresponds is to let the family know our respect and feelings, as well as those close to them in politics and their friends,” declared the president of the Communist Party, Lautaro Carmona.

He added a comment on the political contingency interviewed on Radio Universidad de Chile: “He represented the trend that puts the right back in the Government after the dictatorship and then does it for the second time. So, he marks a leadership within the right and evidently to date they have not been able to achieve transversality within the sector that gives them consensus to imagine who is the person who should represent or lead a project.

The mayor of Providencia and presidential candidate of the UDI (Independent Democratic Union), Evelyn Matthei, stated that “a formidable leader is leaving us, an extraordinary man… a great leader, a great friend, a very strong inspiration is leaving us.”

He added that “what I am most happy about is that he was able to see how he was rising in the polls and I think that gave him a lot of joy, because I know that he did everything possible to do the best possible for the future of Chile and he came out In a very harsh way, he never complained, he never blamed anyone, he never had a grudge, I think it gave him joy when he saw that Chileans were beginning to recognize what he was.”

In a statement, from Renovación Nacional (RN) it was indicated that Sebastián Piñera “left an indelible mark on Chilean politics” and that “his life was dedicated to public service, demonstrating a commitment to the well-being of Chile and its people.” “Former President Piñera was a leader who constantly sought to unite the country, transcending policies to work for the common good,” he said in the public statement.

The character and politics

Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique was born on December 1, 1949 in Santiago. Graduated from the Catholic University as a commercial engineer with a major in economics, he completed a master’s degree and a doctorate in economics at Harvard University, United States. He carried out other studies linked to finance and administration. He completed his primary and secondary education at the Verbo Divino School and the Saint Boniface School in Belgium.

He had always been married to Cecilia Morel, and had four children, Magdalena, Cristóbal, Cecilia and Sebastián. He was always close to his brothers Miguel, José, Magdalena, Pablo and Guadalupe. He is the son of Magdalena Echenique and José Piñera, who was a Christian Democrat activist and Chilean ambassador to the United Nations and Belgium during the Government of Eduardo Frei Montalva. Sebastián Piñera always said that he inherited political and public service motivation from his father. Although his early priority was finances.

He also claimed to draw some inspiration from his uncle Bernardino Piñera, who was a prominent figure in the Catholic Church, becoming president of the Episcopal Conference of Chile (1984-1987).

Sebastián Piñera, also known as Tatán, was a controversial figure. Financial speculator, senator, twice President of the Republic (2010-2014 and 2018-2022), member of the list of ten Chilean super millionaires (with a cumulative total of 2.7 billion dollars according to the recent report by CEO World Maganize) , owner of several consortiums and companies, articulator of the right, subjected to different judicial processes for irregularities and possible financial crimes, accused at the time of human rights violations during the social revolt of 2019, member of the Youth Patrol who sought to change him the face of Renovación Nacional, with various ties to the Latin American and European right.

Since 1973, the year of the coup d’état, Sebastián Piñera has been the only president of the right, in two terms.

A member of the National Renewal (RN), at one time a Christian Democrat sympathizer, he resigned from that group when he was elected President of the Republic. And he remained independent. He was president of RN (2001-2004) and part of the Youth Patrol team along with Andrés Allamand and Alberto Espina, in the attempt to change the face of RN and want to represent “a liberal right.” contrary to the most conservative and Pinochet sectors. They were adversaries of right-wing representatives such as Sergio Onofre Jarpa, Alberto Cardemil, María Angélica Crispi, among others.

His “liberal” position and his performance as a financier led him to be questioned and looked askance by the leaders of the UDI, the military world, some Pinochet supporters, traditional businessmen and he experienced, like members of his family, strange incidents. In private or among journalists he was widely vilified by the hard right. Although years later Piñera strongly assumed positions of the more traditional and doctrinaire right.

He starred in the “Piñeragate”, when a recording was revealed that, in an operation in which Army officers participated, showed that Piñera gave instructions to journalists so that in a television program they would make a fool of and devalue Evelyn Matthei, who was his political adversary in the right.

He boasted of having voted No in the 1988 plebiscite where the continuity or not of the dictatorship was decided, but later he was the campaign manager of the former Minister of Finance of the military regime, Hernán Büchi, representing the Pinochet and right-wing forces.

At a time of siege that included episodes of attacks, pressured by far-right sectors and figures from the powers that be, Sebastián Piñera decided not to run for re-election as senator, also responding to a family demand, which he reported at a press conference. Despite this, he remained active in politics, in the ranks of RN and finally achieved the presidential candidacy, despite the UDI (Independent Democratic Union).

He created the Futuro Foundation with social purposes and support for cultural activities, linking it to his family, and then the Avanza Chile Foundation, in 2010, with more political purposes and programmatic development for the right and his personal political profile. He put several of his former ministers and collaborators there.

One of the most critical events for Sebastián Piñera as president was the social protest of 2019, which generated a massive and widespread citizen revolt throughout the country, in response to which he made decisions that enabled strong repression, with more than two thousand injured. , 400 people with eye amputations, about 30 dead, soldiers in the streets and a situation of instability and institutional crisis, all accredited by national and international organizations.

“We are at war against a powerful, implacable enemy, who respects nothing and no one, who is willing to use violence and crime without any limits,” the former president said then. Some time later, all of this led to an attempt to prosecute him for human rights violations and crimes against humanity.

Furthermore, Piñera, as head of the Executive, wanted to assume a leading role at the Latin American level, and openly promoted the overthrow of the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, even traveling to the border of Colombia and Venezuela, promoting an opposition festival and destabilization in that nation. . In those days he offered Venezuelans to travel to Chile for refuge and promoted a special visa for them.

Sebastián Piñera lived in charge of the country when events occurred that strongly affected the Chilean population, such as the reconstruction after the 2010 earthquake, and in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic that hit hard in 2020 and 2021. He played a leading role in the rescue of the living of 33 miners trapped in a mine in the north of the country.

Business

According to a biography of the former president on the Web Portal of the Library of National Congress, Piñera “in 1979 created Bancard SA, a company that brought Visa and MasterCard credit cards to Chile and that, through its Fincard SA division, also participated as a partner in CMB SA; in the real estate companies Las Américas SA and Aconcagua; at Editorial Los Andes SA; at the Postal Market postal company; and assumed the representation of Apple in Chile, among other initiatives.”

“In 2004 he joined the Quiñenco conglomerate (parent of the Luksic economic group), and was part of the boards of directors of the Las Condes clinic and the Parque Arauco mall. In addition, he initiated the Parque Tantauco conservation and ecotourism project after acquiring 115,000 hectares of native forest on the Big Island of Chiloé. In 2005 he bought the ChileVisión television channel. In addition, he became a shareholder in the Blanco y Negro company, controller of the Colo Colo Sports Club; in Azul Azul, controller of the Universidad de Chile Sports Club, and in the pharmaceutical company FASA. Likewise, through the investment companies Bancard, Axxion and Santa Cecilia, it has had a presence in: Quintec, Chilectra, Marinsa, CTC, Bata, Chile.com and Oro Blanco, to which is added its participation in the investment fund CMB Prime.”

In the Argentine newspaper Página12 he said that “his foray into the business world dates back to the late seventies, when he obtained representation for Chile for credit cards. Since then, his companies have grown.”

It was added that “he also stood out as the main shareholder of the airline Lan Chile (today Latam), the television channel Chilevisión, and Blanco y Negro, the company in charge of one of the most emblematic soccer clubs in the country, Colo-Colo. ”.

In a BBC note it was indicated that Piñera “could not dispel doubts about his past as a businessman, fined by regulators, with allegations of insider information use and linked directly or indirectly to other scandals. But he always denied having acted improperly.” And regarding the fraud in the Bank of Talca, the media recalled that the former president always said that he was “a victim of an unfair, illegal and arbitrary act.” “For that case he was convicted by justice and remained a fugitive for a few days” was reported in the BBC note.

One of the scandals is that he appeared in an international journalistic investigation with million-dollar investments in tax havens in the British Virgin Islands. In reality, he was involved in several investigation cases for corruption, irregularities, use of privileged information, such as the episodes La Chispa, Enjoygate, “zombie companies”, Minera Isla Riesco, Casi Publicam that had to do with electoral expenses, case actions of the airline Lan-Chile, among others.

But nothing ever happened with that, he was not prosecuted and much less went to jail, and the former president always denied the accusations and in fact was never unable to serve as head of the Executive.

It seems clear that Sebastián Piñera will be considered in his ideas and actions as a legacy within the right and that there will be political and intellectual production around his approaches and that he will play a political and emotional role in the upcoming electoral processes.