Chile says goodbye to former president Sebastián Piñera

Chile said its last goodbye to the former president on Friday Sebastian Piñera on the third day of national mourning, on which a mass and a state funeral took place.

The coffin arrived with all honors at the Santiago cathedral after the political world honored it in the old National Congress with an institutional tribute headed by the president Gabriel Boric and speeches by representatives of the three branches of government.

We say goodbye to a politician who, based on his convictions and ideas, “He served his country with love“said President Boric, who highlighted the democratic nature of pineapple. “He was the protagonist of our transition to democracy and also of its consolidation“, he pointed.

“He paved the way for a modern, democratic, liberal right, open to dialogue” for the general good of Chile, he said, highlighting that he was always willing to provide help and advice despite the disagreements they had in the past.

Boric He recognized the public political differences between the two but also acknowledged having perhaps been too critical during the period of the social outbreak, pointing out that things are seen differently from the presidential chair.

“He was an exemplary democrat“said the former president Eduardo Freione of those attending the tribute, who also gave a speech.

Those present in Congress applauded the family and their mention during the speeches, as well as the arrival of Boric, whose management of the funeral has been praised by the entire Chilean political spectrum and publicly thanked by the family.

It will be the second state funeral in the country after that of its first president since the return to democracy, Patricio Aylwin (1990-1994).

Thousands of Chileans passed through the old Congress on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday, sometimes enduring very hot days and waits of up to four hours, to pay tribute to the former president.

In the San José mine of the Atacama Desert “there are 33 flags and not 33 crosses”. Today “We say goodbye to the one who made the miracle of the 33 possible“said Luis Urzúa from the pulpit of the Cathedral of Santiago, who read a short letter at the farewell mass while a dozen of his companions, all dressed in their helmets, surrounded him and spread a Chilean flag on one of the altars. the most emotional moments of the collective farewell day.

The rescue of the 33 miners buried for a month at a depth of 700 meters – something that many did not believe was possible – was one of the feats of Piñera’s first term (2010-2014).

“Your infinite legacy is just beginning“said a few minutes later one of Piñera’s 14 grandchildren, León, 18, in another emotional moment of the ceremony.

After the mass in the Cathedral of Santiago, the coffin will pass through the La Moneda presidential palace, where President Boric will lead a posthumous tribute.

From there the funeral remains will go to the Memorial Park, as it has emerged, for an intimate burial.

Piñera, businessman and owner of one of the country’s largest fortunes, was twice president of Chile, the first time between 2010 and 2014, a term remembered for the reconstruction after the great earthquake of 2010 and the spectacular rescue of the 33 miners.

He was re-elected for the period 2018-2022, an administration marked by the management of the social outbreak, in which he received much criticism for the serious violations of human rights committed in the repression of the demonstrations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chile had some of the longest curfews and confinements in the world and at the same time was among the five countries with the highest vaccination rate in the world.

He was the first conservative president to come to power in Chile in democracy, after 20 years of concertation governments, and he embodied a more moderate right.

He is also remembered for his self-criticism corresponding to the period of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship (1973-1990), when he recognized the figure of “passive accomplices”, those who could do more to stop the arbitrary detentions, torture and murders committed by that regime. and they didn’t.