The former president of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, who died this Tuesday at the age of 74 after a helicopter accident, had a very active participation in the case of the 33 miners trapped in the San José mine.
In fact, his second to last tweet was dedicated to the rescue: “Today marks 13 years since Chile gave an example to the world of the power of unity, faith, will and hope, by saving, in extraordinarily adverse conditions, life. of 33 miners trapped in the deep bowels of the San José mine in the Atacama Desert.”
“It was a song to life that inspired the world and showed the best of the mettle of Chileans and the soul of our nation,” he concluded the tweet he wrote on October 13 of last year.
Today marks 13 years since Chile gave an example to the world of the power of unity, faith, will and hope, by saving, in extraordinarily adverse conditions, the lives of 33 miners trapped in the deep bowels of the San mine. Joseph in the Desert of… pic.twitter.com/V7FE8Oljtw
— Sebastian Piñera (@sebastianpinera) October 13, 2023
"All 33 of us are fine"
On August 5, 2010, at 2:30 p.m., 33 miners were trapped 600 meters deep after a collapse in the San José mine.
They remained there for 69 days until they were rescued
.
The most remembered images of the former president in the case are the day they found the location of the shelter and the night he received the 33 alive.
On Sunday, August 22, 2010, a probe “broke bottom” and found a ramp that was 20 meters from the shelter.
That day at 2:55 p.m. it was learned that the miners were alive.
About thirty minutes later, Piñera showed the world a note sent from inside the shelter confirming that the miners were alive.
“
All 33 of us are fine in the shelter
,” the paper said.
chile tragedy in Atacama copper mine 33 miners are trapped in copper mine accident copper mine confirm that the miners are alive president with letter message from the minersIn this photo released by Chile's government La Moneda press office, Chile's President Sebastian Pinera, right, holds up a plastic bag containing a message, from miners trapped in a collapsed mine, that reads in Spanish "We are ok in the refuge, the 33 miners" in Copiapo, Chile, Sunday Aug. 22, 2010. The miners have been trapped below the surface of the mine since the main access collapsed on Aug. 5 due to tons of falling rock.
(AP Photo/ Jose Manuel de la Maza, Chile's government La Moneda press office) chile santiago sebastian piñera chile tragedy in Atacama copper mine 33 miners are trapped in copper mine president with the letter sent by the miners
Important decisions
Three days after the collapse, when the outlook was bleak, Piñera had announced that the rescue would be canceled supposedly because it was too expensive, but he reactivated it after the protest of the miners' families.
With the rescue underway, Piñera put his schedule on hold to dedicate himself fully to the demands of the operation.
The other important decision that the former president made at that time was the dismissal on August 11 of the
Sernageomin
senior staff due to the anomalies detected in the supervision of the mine.
chile collapse in san jose copper mine 33 miners are trapped in copper mineChile's President Sebastian Pinera raises his fist during a press conference outside the San Jose mine, next to his wife Cecilia Morel, second right, in Copiapo, Chile, Sunday, Sept .
19, 2010. Thirty-three miners have been trapped deep underground in the copper and gold mine since it collapsed on Aug. 5. Second row from left: Chilean writer Isabel Allende Llonas and Chile's Congresswoman Isabel Allende Bussi, niece and daughter respectively of late Chilean President Salvador Allende.
(AP Photo/Aliosha Marquez) chile copapo sebastian piñera chile collapse in san jose copper mine 33 miners are trapped in copper mine president of chile visits the mine
In October, when the 33 were rescued, Piñera visited them at the hospital where they were hospitalized and harshly criticized the working conditions in the mines.
“
Never again in our country are we going to allow work to be done in such unsafe and inhumane conditions
as was done in the San José mine, and in many other places in our country,” he said at the time.
His role in the film
In January 2014, Piñera received
Antonio Banderas
and the rest of the protagonists of
Los 33
in Chile , the 2015 film that narrates the events that occurred at the site.
After the premiere, several local media emphasized that the former president had not been well portrayed, since the film supposedly did not make it clear that it was he who made the decision for the government to get involved in the search for the miners regardless. outcome.
"Former President Sebastián Piñera - who received the biggest and longest ovation of the night in the avant premiere room and who is considered by the miners themselves as the decisive factor in the rescue - is only 'the President', and his cinematographic portrait is mean,” said the critic.
File photograph dated September 19, 2010 and provided by the Presidency of Chile that shows President Sebastián Piñera while communicating via video call with the 33 Atacama miners, in Copiapó (Chile).
Photo: EFE
That comment was in line with Mario Sepúlveda's sayings at that time: “
Sebastián Piñera had the guts, he had the pants to say, let's get them out alive or dead
.
That's something that not everyone says."