Sebastián Piñera: the state funeral of the former president of Chile will be held on Friday at the Santiago Cathedral

The state funeral of the former president of Chile Sebastian Piñerawho died this Tuesday in a helicopter accident at the age of 74, will be arrested this Friday morning at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago, the Chilean chancellor, Alberto van Klaveren, announced this Wednesday.

“When the mass is over, The remains will be transferred to the Parque del memoria Cemetery“, but not before passing in front of La Moneda, where a tribute will be paid to him by the palace guard and the President of the Republic, Gabriel Boric”, said the chancellor, who assured that he still has no confirmation from the international community of leaders who will attend the ceremony .

WATCH: LIVE | Sebastián Piñera, former president of Chile, dies in helicopter crash

Van Klaveren assured that the final details of the funeral are still being worked out. and indicated that so far “there is no confirmation as to which international leaders will participate in the funeral.”

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the condolences we have received as Chancellery of foreign leaders, heads of state and government, acting foreign ministers and also former presidents”, noted the minister.

At 3:30 pm local time on Tuesday (6:30 pm GMT), the helicopter in which Piñera was traveling, along with three other people who managed to save themselves, crashed shortly after taking off over Lake Ranco.a tourist resort located 800 kilometers south of Santiago, where he used to spend his summers with his family.

The Public Ministry is investigating the causes of the accident and the death of the former ruler, who He was an experienced pilot and, according to local media, He was driving the ship in heavy rain and sank when he was unable to unfasten his seat belt.

Piñera’s body is at the Legal Medical Service (SML) in Valdivia, capital of the Los Ríos region to which the Ranco Lake and where the autopsy is being carried out, and will be transferred this morning to the Chilean capital on a Chilean Armed Forces (FACh) plane.

He will be received at the capital’s airport at around 10:40 am local time (1:40 pm GMT) by the president, Gabriel Boricand several ministers and the procession will later leave for the headquarters of National Congress, in Santiagowhere the former ruler will be observed first by his family, explained the chancellor.

“Probably this afternoon, at a time that will be announced in due course, the doors will open so that anyone who wants to pay tribute can do so. The wake will be extended until tomorrow,” he added.

Piñera, who governed Chile for two non-consecutive terms (2010-2014 and 2018-2022), is the second former president to die after the return to democracy in 1990.

The first was the Christian Democrats Patricio Aylwinleader of the Chilean transition and died on April 19, 2016.

Dozens of citizens gathered shortly after hearing the news at the doors of their summer home in Ranco and their main residence, in the wealthy neighborhood of Las Condes, in the capital, as well as at the headquarters in Santiago of Renovación Nacional, the party of which was co-founded and with which he came to power.

A tireless politician and successful businessman, with one of the largest fortunes in the region, Piñera became in 2020 the first right-wing president to reach La Moneda after the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

Boricwhich in the past maintained strong differences with pineappleespecially as a result of the social crisis, defined him on Tuesday in a message broadcast at national level as a “democrat from the first hour” and said that he “contributed, based on his vision, to the construction of great agreements for the good from the country”. ”

The country’s recovery after the devastating 2010 earthquake, the rescue of the three miners trapped for more than two months in the San José mine, the wave of demonstrations in 2019, the pandemic, early vaccination against the coronavirus and the opening of an investigation against him for the Pandora Papers are some of the milestones that his two governments marked.

Source: Elcomercio

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