- Sebastian Pinera, a billionaire financier, was president of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022
- The Harvard-educated entrepreneur, worth an estimated $2.7 billion, died on Tuesday afternoon when his helicopter plunged into a lake in southern Chile
- Three other people on board the helicopter survived: Pinera is believed to have been the pilot
DAILY MAIL
Chile’s billionaire former president Sebastian Pinera – and friends of Bill and Hillary Clinton – was killed on Tuesday when the helicopter he was believed to be piloting crashed in poor weather.
The 74-year-old financier, worth an estimated $2.7 billion, was accompanied by three others in the helicopter – all of whom survived. It is not known if his wife of 50 years, Cecilia Morel, was among them.
The helicopter crashed into the Lago Ranco lake in the south of the country around 3:30pm, shortly after taking off.
Pinera and his family frequently summered in the picturesque region of lakes and mountains, 600 miles south of the capital Santiago.
Before Christmas, Pinera was in the Dominican Republic with Bill and Hillary Clinton and the former president of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto.
Three days of national mourning have been declared for the Harvard-educated conservative, who was president from 2010 to 2014, and again from 2018 to 2022.
He presided over triumphs, such as the rescue of the 33 trapped miners in the Chilean desert in 2010 after 69 days underground – a feat later turned into a film starring Antonio Banderas and Juliette Binoche.
He also led through turbulence, with rapid economic growth boosting swathes of society, but frequent claims he was out of touch with the struggles of ordinary Chileans.
Both his presidencies were marred by frequent protests.
In his first term, students demanded education reform. In his second term, wider and often violent protests against inequality spread nationwide, and ended with the government promising to draft a new constitution.
Despite plaudits for his government’s economic record, many Chileans felt he did not do enough to tackle deep inequality or address inadequacies in the country’s education system.
Pinera’s death was announced by Chile’s current leftist president, Gabriel Boric.
‘He genuinely sought what he thought was best for the country,’ said Boric.
‘For example, when he took on the reconstruction of the country after the February 27, 2010, earthquake, or when he took risks to rescue the 33 miners from the San Jose mine, and more recently, in managing the pandemic in times of global uncertainty.’
