Promoting freedom in Latin America and defending institutions: The legacy of former Chilean president Sebastián Piñera

Sebastián Piñera died Tuesday at the age of 74. The former president of Chile was traveling in a helicopter, which crashed and fell in the Lago Ranco area in the south of the country. He was married for 50 years to Cecilia Morel, with whom he had four children. After leaving the Palacio de La Moneda in 2022, he remained active in public life.

He liked to talk about the responsibility that a former president must have and dedicated himself to promoting freedom in Latin America, participating in forums with other former presidents and giving conferences on the matter.

A commercial engineer by profession, he managed to amass one of the largest fortunes in Chile and became president in two non-consecutive terms, in which he committed himself to defending and encouraging freedom in the region.

He was always very close to his family, reminiscing on social media about his relationship with his wife and even posting videos of himself playing with his grandchildren.

Early years and education

He was born on Dec. 1, 1949 in Santiago, Chile, the third child of José Piñera Carvallo and Magdalena Echenique Rozas. He became immersed in politics at an early age, as his father was ambassador to Belgium, the United Nations and even founded the Christian Democratic Party.

He completed his initial studies in Brussels and Santiago, and later trained as a commercial engineer at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He continued his studies at Harvard University, where he completed a master's degree and a doctorate in economics thanks to a Fulbright scholarship.

He returned to Chile in 1976 and founded his first company, Constructora Toltén, which would be the starting point for a successful career in the real estate sector, which would lead him to amass one of the largest fortunes in his country. Indeed, according to Forbes, shortly after beginning his first presidency, Piñera had an estimated fortune of $2.4 billion.

Political career

He formally entered public life in the late 1980s, when he made his candidacy for the Senate official. He won his seat after garnering 22.7% of the votes and served there until 1998, when he began to dream of presidential ambitions.

He made this dream a reality in 2005, when he was selected as the candidate for the National Renewal party. However, he was defeated in a second round by Michelle Bachelet, who obtained 53% of the votes compared to his 46%.

After establishing himself as the leader of the opposition during Bachelet's term, he attempted another candidacy four years later. This time, he won in the second round with 51% of the vote, ending several years of center-left leaders.

President of Chile (2010-2014)

He arrived at the Palacio de la Moneda with promises to deregulate the economy, privatize unprofitable public companies and increase freedom for Chileans.

His first government, from 2010 to 2014, stood out for an annual economic growth of 5.3%, which was accompanied by a reduction in unemployment and inflation. In turn, the country climbed to seventh place in the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom.

Among his measures, the One Day Business Law stood out, a measure that created an electronic portal to register and approve new companies in just 24 hours. As a result, some 27,000 new companies were created that employed thousands of other workers.

In turn, he created Chile Atiende to facilitate bureaucratic procedures for citizens, the Ethical Family Income to help lower class families, and eliminated retirement costs. As for his popularity ratings, they were healthy both at the beginning and at the end of his term.

Second presidency

As Chile's electoral system does not allow immediate re-election, he had to wait until 2017 to seek a second term after another four years of the center-left Bachelet. Promising basically what he had achieved with his first government, the Chileans decided to give Piñera another chance.

Again in a second round, he defeated Alejandro Guiller with 56% of the votes, thus winning a second presidency.

He was sworn in in 2018 and quickly raised Chile again in the aforementioned Economic Freedom Index. "Evidently, this is information that is taken based on information from the past, events that occurred during the previous government, because our government is correcting the reasons why many rating agencies lowered their risk ratings. The reasons were basically two: One that the fiscal deficit was growing too quickly; and two, that the public debt had doubled during the previous government," he expressed in July of that year.

However, this second term was marked by left-wing protests, which almost caused the collapse of his government in 2019. This social outbreak, originally caused by the increase in public transportation fares in Santiago, led to the constitutional plebiscite of 2020, in which the majority of Chileans voted in favor of changing the current Constitution.

The latter was particularly criticized at the time, as political analysts felt that he simply gave in to the protests and allowed the violent to get what they were looking for.

During this series of protests, which lasted until March 2020, his approval rating fell dramatically to 14%.

"A profoundly democratic leader"

Maximiliano Duarte, director of studies at Fundación P!ensa, spoke exclusively with Voz Media to analyze Piñera's legacy.

After recalling that he was the only right-wing president to achieve two terms since the return of democracy, he pointed out that, "although some claim a certain political deficit, he is recognized transversally for his management skills, especially at times when the country had to face catastrophic situations, such as the reconstruction after the earthquake in 2010, the rescue of the 33 miners and the remarkable management of the Covid-19 pandemic, where Chile was one of the first countries in the world to vaccinate its entire population".

Post-presidential life

Piñera emphasized the responsibility that former presidents should have. He promoted freedom in Latin America and warned about the need to push back on the Puebla Group, a political forum that seeks to promote progressive leaders in the region.

Specifically, he was one of the South American leaders who spoke out strongest against the regimes in Cuba and Venezuela. In the latter case, he sought to isolate Nicolás Maduro as leader of the Lima Group.

He did the same with the Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA Group), criticizing authoritarians of the region and their respective political persecutions and violations of human rights.

“No one says this is going to be easy. The path to freedom and democracy has never been easy. It hasn't been a bed of roses. It has always been with great efforts, sacrifices and, many times, enormous setbacks. Victor Hugo said, 'There is nothing stronger in the world than an idea whose time has come.' I hope that the time has come for Latin America to recover freedom and democracy; and can reconnect with the path of freedom, progress, justice and peace. And that is something that, to a large extent, depends on us,” he expressed at a Freedom and Democracy Group meeting in Buenos Aires in September 2023.