Chile's billionaire leader Sebastián Piñera has seen his popularity soar, writes HUGH BRONSTEINin Santiago
CHILE AND its billionaire president Sebastián Piñera have both burnished their images with the flawlessly executed rescue of 33 miners trapped deep underground for more than two months.
Already respected by investors looking for opportunities in largely left-leaning South America, Chile’s reputation for efficiency was enhanced by the technically complicated rescue operation.
Piñera (60) a credit card and airline magnate who took office in March for a four-year term as Chile’s first conservative president in two decades, is already basking in the glow of success. “Chile is not the same country that it was 69 days ago,” he said, beaming, after greeting and hugging each of the miners as they were lifted from to safety. “We are more respected.”
The final rescue operation, which took less than 24 hours after weeks spent digging an escape shaft hundreds of metres down to the miners, was viewed by hundreds of millions of people around the world and sparked celebrations throughout Chile.
Piñera’s approval rating surged to a new high in August for his efforts to rescue the men when they were first located alive 17 days after the mine caved in. His handling of the crisis helped him push through a Bill to raise royalties paid by mining companies in the world’s top copper producer to help fund reconstruction after a devastating February earthquake.
The lower house of Congress approved the royalty Bill on Wednesday, as the rescue was under way, in a major political victory for Piñera.
But the boost to Piñera’s approval ratings may be short lived, said Carolina Segovia, a pollster at Santiago-based think-tank Centro de Estudios Publicos. “Rally-around-the-flag issues like this one usually have a short shelf life,” she said. “Long-running issues such as the economy and crime will dictate his popularity, and by extension his clout in congress, over the long term.”
Piñera’s next test in the legislature will be passage of his 2011 budget. Lawmakers will debate the proposal this month.
“The rescue should have a very positive effect on Piñera. It showed an incredible amount of seriousness in terms of patience, planning and resources, which underscores Chile as a member of the developed world,” said Walter Molano, head of research at BCP Securities in Connecticut, US.
“It will have a lasting impact on the way that the world perceives Chile,” Molano added.
Leaders who fumble crises like these often pay a high political price. Then US president George W Bush was accused of a sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina, which pushed his approval rating down by more than 10 points.
US president Barack Obama’s ratings sank by seven points for what some saw as his failure to act decisively after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And in Pakistan, president Asif Ali Zardari’s decision to continue with a planned trip to Europe in spite of the monsoons that left millions homeless prompted vicious criticism at home.
Piñera’s response to the miners has done the opposite. The mine’s collapse on August 5th shocked Chile and unveiled the underbelly of its mining industry, which had made significant improvements in safety standards. Piñera fired the government’s chief mining regulator, moved to strengthen safety laws and increased regulation.
He was quick to seek out world-class experts to get involved in the operation, consulting US space agency Nasa and drawing on the expertise of miners, geologists and drillers at Chile’s state copper giant Codelco and beyond. The result was an engineering feat that hypnotised the world as engineers located the miners with a drill hole about as wide as a grapefruit, enabling them to send down food and water to keep them alive.
Then came the next challenge: widening the duct to send down a capsule just big enough to hoist out one man at a time.
The rescue prompted praise from many foreign leaders, including Obama and also an ideological opponent, Venezuela’s president Hugo Chávez.
Alberto Ramos, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, said Chile was already an attractive market and the competence with which it handled the rescue underlines how well organised and efficient the country is. It also allowed Piñera to demonstrate he is not just an effective businessman and politician, Ramos said. “This has certainly helped Piñera’s popularity as it was the opportunity to show his human, caring side.” – (Reuters)