The 74-year-old billionaire tycoon has died in a crash within the in style trip spot Lago Ranco in southern Chile.
Chile’s former President Sebastian Pinera, a billionaire tycoon who twice held the South American nation’s high job, has died in a helicopter crash, his workplace stated in an announcement.
“It’s with deep remorse that we announce the loss of life of the previous president of the Republic of Chile,” stated the assertion on Tuesday, including that 74-year-old Pinera had died within the in style trip spot Lago Ranco, some 920km (570 miles) south of Santiago.
Chile Inside Minister Carolina Toha confirmed the loss of life of the previous president. No additional particulars had been instantly launched about the reason for the accident.
Chile’s nationwide catastrophe company SENAPRAD confirmed that one particular person had been killed and three folks injured. The federal government didn’t instantly identify who was aboard.
Pinera, additionally a profitable businessman, oversaw fast financial progress and a steep fall in unemployment throughout his first 2010 to 2014 presidency, at a time when a lot of Chile’s commerce companions and neighbours had been going through sharply slower progress.
His second presidency from 2018 to 2022 was marked by violent protests in opposition to inequality that led to accusations of human rights violations and ended with the federal government promising to draft a brand new structure.
Pinera was the proprietor of the fifth largest fortune in Chile, estimated at some $3bn. He labored as a tutorial in a number of universities for nearly 20 years and as a advisor for the Inter-American Growth Financial institution and the World Financial institution.
As a businessman within the Nineteen Seventies by means of the Nineties, he labored in quite a lot of industries, together with actual property. He held shares in main airways in addition to telecommunication, actual property and electrical energy corporations. He additionally created one of many largest bank card corporations within the nation. In 2009, he handed over the administration of his companies to others.
He entered politics representing the centre proper, which was the civilian help of the navy regime. On the identical time, he distanced himself from the 1973-1990 rule of Common Augusto Pinochet, when greater than 3,000 suspected leftists had been killed or “disappeared.”
Pinera ran thrice for president of Chile. In 2006, he misplaced to socialist Michelle Bachelet; then in 2010, he defeated former President Eduardo Frei. 4 years after his first time period, in 2018, he received a second four-year time period after defeating a leftist unbiased.
Twelve days earlier than the start of his first time period, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake and a tsunami claimed the lives of 525 folks and devastated the infrastructure of central-southern Chile.
Pinera’s authorities agenda was postponed so as to tackle emergency reconstruction. In 2010, he additionally led the unprecedented rescue of 33 miners trapped for 69 days on the backside of a mine within the Atacama desert, which captured the world’s consideration.
The occasion turned a worldwide media sensation and was the topic of a 2014 film, The 33.
He closed his administration having created an estimated a million jobs.
