Chile’s despised president pulls vaccine rabbit out of the hat
Sebastián Piñera, had an approval rating of just 6%, now it’s heading towards 20%
09 March 2021 - 13:59 Valentina Fuentes and Matthew Malinowski
Chile's president Sebastián Piñera. Picture: REUTERS/CARLO ALLEGRI
Santiago — Just over a year ago, Chile’s billionaire president, Sebastián Piñera, had an approval rating of 6%, the lowest in Latin America. His nation was exploding over inequality and he was dismissed as a hard-hearted plutocrat. The demand running wild on social media was: “Piñera, resign.”
Today, Chile is vaccinating its population against Covid-19 at a rate that outstrips most of the world due partly to Piñera’s shrewd deal-making with drug companies. The result: his approval rating has leapt to between 14% and 20%, with the nation slowly becoming more grateful to the executive at the top.