Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique (; 1 December 1949 – 6 February 2024) was a Chilean businessman and politician who served as 34th and 36th president of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and from 2018 to 2022. The son of a Christian Democratic politician and diplomat, he studied business administration at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and economics at Harvard University. At the time of his death, he had an estimated net worth of US$2.7 billion, according to Forbes, making him the third richest person in Chile.
A member of the liberal-conservative National Renewal party, he served as a senator for the East Santiago district from 1990 to 1998, running for the presidency in the 2005 election, which he lost to Michelle Bachelet, and again, successfully, in 2010. As a result, he became Chile's first conservative president to be democratically elected since 1958, and the first to hold the office since the departure of Augusto Pinochet in 1990.
The legacy of Piñera's two administrations include the reconstruction following the 2010 Chile earthquake, the rescue of 33 trapped miners in 2010, a rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the legalization of same-sex marriage in Chile in 2021–2022. His administrations also faced the two largest protests movements since the return of democracy in 1990; the 2011 student protests and the more massive and violent 2019–2020 protests. After leaving office in 2022 Piñera developed amicable relations with the new left-wing president Gabriel Boric, who had previously been a harsh critic of him. BBC La Tercera Piñera died in a helicopter crash on Lake Ranco on 6 February 2024 at age 74. Piñera's supporters form a cross-party centre-right and right-wing faction called Piñerism.
Early life and education Piñera was born in Santiago on 1 December 1949, as the third child of José Piñera Carvallo (1917–1991) and Magdalena Echenique Rozas (1919–2000). Among his ancestors on his maternal side is his mother's great-great-grandmother, Luisa Pinto Garmendia, the sister of President Aníbal Pinto Garmendia and daughter of President Francisco Antonio Pinto and Luisa Garmendia Alurralde, who was a descendant of the penultimate Inca emperor, Huayna Capac.Retamal Favereau, Julio; Celis Atria, Carlos; y Muñoz Correa, Juan Guillermo – "Familias Fundadoras de Chile, 1540–1600", Editorial Universitaria, Santiago, 1992. p. 789 He was a nephew of the former oldest living Roman Catholic bishop in the world, Bernardino Piñera, who died in 2020 due to complications from COVID-19.
Piñera's family moved to Belgium one year after his birth and later to New York City, where his father was the Chilean ambassador to the United Nations. Piñera returned to Chile in 1955 and enrolled in the Colegio del Verbo Divino ("Divine Word School"), from which he graduated in 1967. Universia Sebastián Piñera Perfil
Piñera then enrolled at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, from which he graduated in 1971 with an undergraduate degree in commercial engineering. Upon graduation, he was awarded the Raúl Iver Oxley Prize, which is given to the best overall student in each class..
Piñera continued on to Harvard University on a partial Fulbright Program for postgraduate studies in economics. During his time at Harvard, Piñera and a classmate coauthored an article, "The Old South's Stake in the Inter-Regional Movement of Slaves", for the Journal of Economic History. After three years at Harvard, Piñera graduated with both a Master of Arts and PhD in economics.
Career
Teaching Piñera was an economics lecturer from 1971 until 1988 at the University of Chile, the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, and Adolfo Ibáñez University. In 1971, he was in charge of Economic Political Theory in the School of Economics at the University of Chile, and in 1972, at the Valparaiso Business School - currently Adolfo Ibanez University.
Foundations In 1989, with Cecilia Morel, Danica Radic, and Paula Délano, Piñera created the Enterprising Women Foundation (Fundación Mujer Emprende), originally called The House of Youth (La Casa de la Juventud). The foundation aims to assist in the development of young women of lower income. Fundacion Mujer Emprende Quienes Somos
In 1973, Piñera created the foundation Fundación Futuro, of which he was president and whose directors are Cristián Boza D., María Teresa Chadwick P., Hugo Montes B., Cecilia Morel M., Renato Poblete S.J., and Fabio Valdés C. The head director of the foundation is Magdalena Piñera. The foundation's mission is to help in Chile's development of justice, freedom, and democracy. Fundanción Futuro Quienes Somos The foundation was renamed Fundación Cultura y Sociedad after Piñera was elected president. Terra Semana clave para fundación a la que Piñera traspasará propiedad de Chilevisión
Under the Fundación Cultura y Sociedad (formerly Fundación Futuro), the Grupo Tantauco has the mission of environmentalism, and is administered by Juan Carlos Urquidi. It was created to support the proposals Piñera instituted or planned to institute during his presidency. Piñera2010 Conoce las propuestas medioambientales del Grupo Tantauco In 2005, Piñera created Tantauco Park (Spanish: Parque Tantauco), a a private natural reserve he bought and owned on the south end of Chiloé Island, to protect of the region's unique ecosystem. His foundation runs the park, which is open to the public and is an ecotourist location. Piñera bought the in Chiloé through an offshore company in Panama. He faced pressure to cede eight hectares to sixteen indigenous families whose presence pre-dates Piñera's purchase and who have spent years negotiating to obtain title to their familial lands.
An additional project, Grupo Tantauco: Derechos Humanos, was proposed in hopes of beginning a reconciliation between the Chilean people who suffered human rights violations during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. Piñera2010 Grupo Tantauco: Derechos Humanos
Businesses
Piñera was general manager of the Banco de Talca. In 1982, a warrant was issued for his arrest on charges of violating banking law and fraudulent loans, in an event where over US$38 million was not paid to the Central Bank of Chile, Piñera being the Banco de Talca's CEO. The money disappeared and was never paid. Piñera spent 24 days in hiding while his brother, José Piñera, appealed the order, making some calls to underestimate the crime. A writ of habeas corpus, first rejected by the Appeals Court but then approved by the Supreme Court, acquitted Piñera. According to the Pandora Papers, Piñera's case was thrown out of court due to political intervention.
Piñera was also involved in the Chispas Case, on which a fraudulent buyout of the Chilean electrical company Enersis netted its participants over $400 million. All involved were convicted, resulting in a $75 million fine.
Between 1992 and 2004 Piñera engaged in tax evasion through the use of shell companies, for which he was never formally charged. Due to Pandora Papers leaks, he was formally charged for tax-evasion and bribery due to selling a family-owned copper mine Dominga to his best friend through shell companies registered in the British Virgin Islands.
Piñera once owned 90% of Chilevisión, a terrestrial television channel broadcasting nationwide. He also owned 27% of LAN Airlines (LAN); 13% of Colo-Colo, a football (soccer) club; and other minor stock positions in companies such as Quiñenco, Enersis, and Soquimich.
In July 2007, Piñera was fined approximately US$680,000 by Chile's securities regulator (SVS) for not withdrawing a purchase order after receiving privileged information (an infraction similar to insider trading) of LAN Airlines stock in mid-2006.Ethisphere Magazine: Insider Trading Later that month, he resigned from the boards of LAN and Quintec.
To avoid a conflict of interest, he sold Chilevisión for $160 million in 2010 to Time Warner. He also sold his shares of LAN in several rounds between February and March 2010.
Piñera built an estimated fortune of US$2.8 billion , according to Forbes magazine. His wealth was largely due to his involvement in introducing credit cards to Chile in the late 1970s and his subsequent investments, mainly in LAN Airlines stock. Piñera acquired shares of the formerly state-owned company from Scandinavian Airlines in 1994, as part of a joint venture with the Cueto family."LAN Airlines 2007 annual report, p. 29" .
Political career
In 1988, after Pinochet had lost the referendum on his continued rule and Chile was returning to democracy, Piñera offered his support for the Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle in his pre-candidacy for president.
Between 11 March 1990 and 11 March 1998, Piñera was senator for Eastern Santiago.Sebastián Piñera Echenique
In 1998, Piñera opposed the arrest and detention of Augusto Pinochet in London, initiated by Baltasar Garzón, arguing that it was an attack on Chile's sovereignty and dignity.Piñera y su acalorado apoyo a Pinochet en 1998 . La Nación, 10 de diciembre de 2009 (part of the speech can be seen at ).
On 14 May 2005, in a surprise move, Piñera announced his candidacy for the 2005 presidential election (RN was supposed to support UDI's Lavín). He described his political philosophy as Christian humanism.
2009–10 presidential elections
Piñera ran for President of Chile in the 2009–2010 election. From August 2009, he led in opinion polls, competing with left-of-center candidates Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, Marco Enríquez-Ominami, and Jorge Arrate. In the 13 December 2009 election, Piñera placed first in the results with 44.05% of the votes, while Frei placed second with 29.6%. Neither candidate received more than half of the total votes; therefore, as per the Constitution, Chileans returned to the polls for a final run-off election on Sunday, 17 January 2010.
That evening, the third and final preliminary results were announced by the Undersecretary of the Interior, accounting for 99.77% of the total ballot boxes. Piñera received 51.61% of the votes and Frei received 48.39%. Republica de Chile Votación Candidatos por País
Piñera invested an estimated US$13.6 million in his presidential campaign, which included items such as a campaign anthem and "Thank You" banners. Piñera's banners and billboards carried statements throughout the country such as "Delinquents, your party is over," and "Small businesses, Big opportunities". Piñera's campaign released a featuring a male gay couple, something never seen before in a presidential campaign run in Chile. Amongst his promises were increasing education rates and improving international relations with the neighboring nation of Peru.
Piñera's victory meant a shift towards the right, breaking two-decades of center-left political leadership in Chile and I. the process becoming the first elected right-wing leader in 52 years.PBS Newshour Chile Elects First Right-Wing President in 52 Years
On 28 January, Piñera suspended his membership in National Renewal party and unofficially became an independent. RN's bylaws require successful presidential candidates from the party to renounce their association to govern the country fairly, foremost with the interest of the people, not with the interest of a political party or particular political philosophy. El Economista http://eleconomista.com.mx/internacional/2010/01/28/pinera-renuncia-su-militancia-gobernar Piñera renuncia a su militancia para gobernar
Private to public transition Piñera became the first billionaire to be sworn into the Chilean Presidency. He offered to sell his shares in major corporations before being sworn in on 11 March 2010, to avoid conflicts of interest. Piñera placed US$400 million in blind trusts.Reuters UPDATE 1-Chile's Piñera begins LAN stake sale process