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News > Latin America

Chilean Students Call For Protests Against President Piñera

  • President Sebastian Piñera (L) and businessman Carlos Delano (R).

    President Sebastian Piñera (L) and businessman Carlos Delano (R). | Photo: Twitter/ @paloma_avila

Published 7 October 2021
Opinion

"He is morally disqualified from heading the country's destiny", Student leader Ignacia Henriquez pointed out.

Chile's Students Confederation (CONFECH) and the Catholic University Students Federation (FEUC)  called for nationwide protests against President Sebastian Piñera on Oct. 8.

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They demand the resignation or removal of Piñera, who is currently involved in the Pandora Papers scandal for trading Dominga, an offshore mining project located next to the Humboldt Archipelago, which is one of the world's most diverse ecosystems.

"Piñera is morally disqualified from heading the country's destiny", the FEUC President Ignacia Henriquez said and insisted on the definitive closure of Dominga due to its environmental impacts. In 2010, Piñera sold this mining company for US$152 million through an operation carried out on the Virgin Island.

"Carrying out operations in tax havens is in itself an unacceptable action, something that Piñera himself acknowledged five years ago. What breaks all records, however, is the fact that he used public institutions to carry out private operations with the natural patrimony belonging to Chileans. That is intolerable," said Henriquez.

As a condition for making the last payment, the company's buyer asked Piñera that La Higuera, which was the site where the mining project would be located, should not be declared a national park, exclusion zone, or national reserve.

Four months before the commercial transaction was effective, Piñera halted the construction of a thermoelectric plant in La Higuera and relocated it.

Before the Pandora Papers scandal unleashed, the far-right politician swore that he did not hold any offshore account, nor was he ever involved with any private business deals while holding political office. Currently, Piñera claims that neither he nor his family are involved with the company.

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