The reason: on Friday afternoon, the president walked through the Plaza de la Dinidad, the center of mass protests against the president and now deserted due to the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic and in the middle of the Santiago area declared in total quarantine.
Surrounded by some escorts, he even took a photo sitting at the base of the monument to General Manuel Baquedado, just where among the many signs painted on the pedestal, one appears with the slogan «Renounce Piñera.»
The president’s presence was captured on his cell phones by numerous neighbors, who posted videos and photos on social networks that generated comments of all shades.
This forced him to justify himself with a message on Twitter, in which he expressed that when passing through the plaza, he got off «to greet a group of Carabineros and Military personnel who were helping to direct the traffic, I took a photo and continued on my way», and apologized that his gesture was «misinterpreted».
Although opinions were not lacking, pointing out that the president can walk the streets like any other citizen, the symbolism of the Plaza did not go unnoticed in the criticisms generated from the left to the extreme right.
In that sense, the communist deputy Karol Cariola recalled that “in Plaza de la Dignidad eyes, lives exploded. The cars under his command fractured the hip of one boy, another left him blind. A President who goes out to provoke his own citizens is not up to the job. ”
The independent senator Alejandro Guillier pointed out that at a time when Piñera asks the country for unity in the midst of the pandemic, «he dedicates himself to provoking the vast majority of Chileans who want a fairer country by appearing in the Plaza de la Dignidad.»
Heraldo Muñoz, president of the Party for Democracy, pointed out the detail that “Piñera walks through the Plaza de la Dignidad while the government asks people to stay home. This is a provocation and irresponsibility, improper for a head of state in the midst of a pandemic crisis. ”
Deputy Gabriel Boric, of the Frente Amplio, expressed the opinion that “Sebastián Piñera’s constant desire to take center stage threatens the leadership that a head of state requires under normal circumstances, but above all in a crisis like the current one”.
From the Christian democracy, the deputy Gabriel Ascencio described it as “an unnecessary provocation. An insult to the victims of human rights violations committed under his government. It’s going to laugh at people. «
Even the president of the Teachers College, Mario Aguiar, considered that Piñera «does not seem to be in an adequate psychological state, because he violates the quarantine in Santiago and Providencia and walks around as a tourist.»
There was no lack of criticism from the extreme right, and former presidential candidate José Antonio Kast described the president’s walk around the square as «inexplicable», and later hammered that «the government takes one step, but back two.»
sus/acl / rc
