Former Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, who died this Tuesday at the age of 74 after his helicopter crashed in the Lago Ranco area, was President of Chile for two terms: 2010-2014 and 2018-2022.
The tragic news has caused enormous excitement in Chile and the region due to the relevance of Piñera’s image in the political sphere of his country, but also at the business level, where the former president worked He was one of the biggest icons and one of the ten richest states in the South American country.
Those who knew Piñera blamed him a controlling and obsessive characterQualities that helped him develop a successful career and be included in the Forbes list of the biggest fortunes of 2017, which appreciated this The former president had a fortune of around 2.7 billion of dollars.
In the portfolio of the late former Chilean president There was everything from airlines to construction companies to a football club. The main assets of this portfolio included the airlines LAN Chile and its subsidiaries in Argentina, Peru and Ecuador; Ladeco Bankard; Talca Bench; Fincard; the construction companies Toltén, Aconcagua and Fourcade; the television station Chilevision; the Colo-Colo Football Club; and Ahumada Pharmacies.
But in 2009, before he became head of state for the first time, delivered around a third of its investments given to a blind trust so that it can manage this part of its assets.
His first attempt to reach the Palacio de la Moneda failed in 2005., when the socialist Michelle Bachelet defeated him in the elections. But Piñera persisted and managed to become first the reference of the center-right and later the president. Before measuring with Bachelet was a senator between 1990 and 1998 and was the highest authority of the National Renewal Party between 2001 and 2004.
During his first term Chile experienced a period of remarkable economic growth and a decline in unemploymentin contrast to what was happening in the rest of Latin American countries, most of which were going through difficult times.
Piñera’s second mandate It was marked by the protests of the so-called “Social Outbreak”, the street demonstrations of discontent that brought Gabriel Boric to the presidency and led to the constitutional process that was concluded after two failed attempts to adopt a new constitution in a referendum that would take place during the to replace the military regime approved by Augusto Pinochet.
Piñera graduated from the Catholic University of Chile with a degree in industrial engineering and also completed a graduate degree Masters and Ph.D. in economics at the renowned American University of Harvard.
And that’s it The Chilean politician was considered by his supporters to be a good manager. His critics criticized him for his affiliation with the Chilean elite and for his alliances with political figures with ties to Pinochet.
In addition to his dual leadership at the head of Chile’s executive branch, he was also the first “pro tempore” president of CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) between 2011 and 2013. At the same time, he was also at the head of the Forum for the Progress of South America (Prosur) between 2019 and 2020.