Viña Del Mar, Chile, 7 Feb

Sebastián Piñera, the two-time former president of Chile who faced social upheaval followed by a pandemic in his second term, died on Tuesday in a helicopter crash. He was 74.

Chile Interior Minister Carolina Tohá confirmed the death of the former president. No further details were immediately released about the cause of the accident. Serving as president from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022, Piñera led the South American nation during moments of crisis, including the aftermath of an 8.8 magnitude earthquake and tsunami.

He gained a spotlight for his administration’s rescue of trapped Chilean miners in 2010, and his governance during the coronavirus pandemic, when Chile was placed among the top five countries for vaccination rates for the illness.

His legacy is marred by violent police repression in October 2019 against protesters who were demonstrating against the country’s education, health and pension systems dating to the country’s 1973-1990 military dictatorship. A United Nations investigation alleged that police used force “improperly and indiscriminately” injuring protesters, and that government mistreatment of detainees amounted to torture.

The social unrest ultimately led to two attempts to update the constitution that was inherited from the military government, but both have failed. Piñera’s death came as Chile already was recovering from massive deadly wildfires in the county’s central region.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric honored Piñera in a speech Tuesday afternoon as a leader “seeking the best for his country,” highlighting his management of the pandemic and other emergencies. “He was a democrat from the very first moment,” Boric said.

The death also drew an outpouring of condolences from leaders and former leaders across Latin America from both the left and right.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that it was sad that Piñera had died so “abruptly.” “We worked to strengthen the relationship between our countries and we always had a good dialogue when we were both presidents, and also when we weren’t,” he said.

Argentinian President Javier Milei sent condolences, as did his predecessor, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. “As everyone knows, we did not have the same ideas, but we were always united by a relationship of great respect: he was a right-wing man but deeply democratic,” Fernández said. “I remember with affection his sense of humor and the warmth of his family, whom I met in Chile.”