Former Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, who died in a helicopter accident this Tuesday at the age of 74, is there He was welcomed like a hero in Santiago de Chile when the coffin containing his remains arrived.
The body arrived in a hearse, escorted and pursued by military cars and motorcycles Dozens of vehicles honked. On the side of the road, a crowd cheered and waved national flags.
There was much praise on social media for the former president, who died at 3:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday after the helicopter in which he was traveling with three other people crashed on a lake 800 kilometers south of Santiago, a resort town, in where he spent his summers.
Piñera, who was piloting the helicopter, managed to save the lives of his companions but was unable to leave the cabin. “You jump first. “If I jump with you, the helicopter will fall on all of us,” were his last words.
Among the most notable moments of his political and personal life on social networks are some of his speeches, the funny moment when, according to the statement, he sat in the chair of the Oval Office of the White House, “the first foreign president to do so.” to Barack Obama, or a tender video in which he unexpectedly enters a bedroom where his grandchildren are supposed to fight the “fight of the century”.
In his role as grandfather (Piñera was known to the public as a very family-oriented man) was the late president He feigns an argument with his grandchildren, who amusedly announce their victory over him.
The state funeral for the former president will take place on Friday morning at Santiago Cathedral, Chilean Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren announced on Wednesday.
“Once the mass is over, the remains will be transferred to the Parque del Memoria cemetery, but not before passing in front of La Moneda, where the palace guard and the President of the Republic, Gabriel Boric, will pay homage to them,” said the chancellor, who was responsible for organizing the funeral.
Van Klaveren assured that the final details of the funeral are still being determined, pointing out that so far “there is no confirmation as to which international leaders will attend the funeral,” according to Efe.
“I take this opportunity to thank all the messages of condolence that we as the Foreign Ministry have received from foreign heads of state and government, current foreign ministers and also former presidents,” said the minister.
Accident investigation
Prosecutors are investigating the causes of the accident and the death of the former ruler, who was an experienced pilot and, according to local media, piloted the ship in the middle of heavy rain and sank when he could not unfasten his seat belt.
Piñera’s body is at the Legal Medical Service (SML) of Valdivia, capital of the Los Ríos region, which includes Lake Ranco and where the autopsy will be carried out, and will be transferred to the Chilean capital this morning by a plane of the Chilean Armed Forces (Academic subject).
Dozens of citizens gathered shortly after hearing the news. on the doors of his summer home in Ranco and his primary residence, in the wealthy capital district of Las Condes and in the headquarters of the Renovación Nacional in Santiago, a party of which he was a co-founder and with which he came to power.