Boric receives Piñera's body in Santiago and begins the wake in the old Congress

Shortly after noon this Wednesday, the coffin of former president Sebastián Piñera (2010-2014, 2018-2022), who died on Tuesday in a plane crash after the helicopter he was piloting crashed in Lake Ranco.

President Gabriel Boric, dressed in black, gave a long hug to the former first lady, Cecilia Morel.

It was an emotional moment, in silence.

Boric was waiting for the ex-president's coffin, which was covered by a Chilean flag, along with his Interior Ministers, Carolina Tohá, and spokesperson Camila Vallejo, who interrupted her vacation after the death of the former president.

The fourth member of the Cabinet, Chancellor Alberto van Klaveren, is the one who has been nominated to be in charge of the state funeral.

Chile has decreed three days of national mourning, and the former president will be laid to rest in the Hall of Honor of the old Congress, in the center of Santiago, where hundreds of people came to leave flowers waiting for the arrival of the body, which happened shortly. after 4:15 p.m.

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In Group 10, as soon as the former president's coffin was lowered to the airport slab, Piñera was honored by Air Force officials, who are waiting lined up under the institutional plane.

Along with Cecilia Morel were the four children of the former president: Magdalena, Cecilia, Sebastián and Cristóbal.

In the morning, the cause of death of the former president was confirmed by the Prosecutor's Office, asphyxiation due to submersion.

The other three companions, his sister Magdalena, businessman Ignacio Guerrero—Piñera's close friend—and his son Bautista Guerrero, jumped from the aircraft.

Gabriel Boric with the family of Sebastián Piñera and government officials, this Wednesday at the Santiago Airport. Cristóbal Venegas

Flowers in the old Congress

Piñera was transferred at 4:00 p.m. from the Fach Group to the Hall of Honor of the old National Congress by a carabinero caravan.

On the path of the hearse, several citizens gathered on the edge of the road with Chilean flags to say goodbye to him.

Former ministers of state and dozens of flower sellers have come to say goodbye to the old Congress building.

The authorities and friends entered to await the arrival of the body.

Those who admired him, but did not know him personally, waited outside Parliament.

From 1:00 p.m. only flower crowns arrived.

The entry of the coffin was scheduled for around noon, but was delayed until 4:15 p.m.

Outside the former Congress, the supporters of the two-time center-right president sang the national anthem, shouted support for Cecilia Morel, the widow, and raised their voices with the phrase: “Piñera, friend, the people are with you!”

Street vendors sold flags and posters of the deceased.

His former political colleagues walked around telling common stories.

Gonzalo Blumel, his former Minister of the Interior, did not hesitate to describe Piñera as the most important center-right leader of the 21st century and highlighted above all his sensitivity.

Mario Desbordes, who was the former president's Minister of Defense, along with party colleagues in National Renewal, recalled that a little over a month ago he was bothering Piñera that he was going to be a presidential candidate again.

He said that Piñera laughed and repeated that the center-right had to be strengthened in the midst of populist threats.

Senator Iván Moreira, of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI), said: “I put my hands in the fire for Piñera and I do not burn them over his conviction for the defense of human rights and democracy.”

In the street, under umbrellas and with fans due to the 33 degree temperature in Santiago, people said that they did not mind not going in to say goodbye to Piñera, and that just seeing the body pass by was enough.

“I think he will be remembered as a hero.

His quick action in the global pandemic for vaccines saved many lives,” says Loreto Codoce, 60, an entrepreneur, who moved especially from the municipality of San Miguel to the center of the capital.

Cristián Moreno, 55, a businessman, gets emotional when talking about the man he voted for every time he stood in an election.

“It was the first right-wing government since Jorge Alessandri (1958-1964) and it made us grow more than now.

“Time will prove him right.”

That idea is repeated among those present.

That the bad approval with which he left his second Government and the specter of the social outbreak will be relegated by his achievements, such as the reconstruction after the earthquake and tsunami of 2010 and the guaranteed universal pension (PGU).

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