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It seems like another internet joke but it is not, although the last occurrence of Sebastian Piñera has already become viral meme. He Chilean president visited the north of the country this weekend and during a speech he figuratively addressed the coronavirus to demand that it leave Chile. It is the latest departure from the tone of the liberal president, who has starred in several gaffes during the pandemic.
“There has not been a drop in resources assigned to the region, but rather they have been reallocated because priorities change; and they unfortunately changed because of a microscopic and invisible virus, but lethal and very destructive, which is called coronavirus and that I ask you, as the president of Chile, to leave us alone, to leave the country, “said Piñera on Saturday during her visit to the region of Arica and Parinacota, bordering Peru and Bolivia and won in the War of the Pacific (1879-1884). The president thus tried to personify the virus, blaming him for the budget deviation carried out in the region by the central government to fight Covid-19, which has caused the decrease in other items.
The apparent humorous spontaneity of Piñera does not seem to serve for Chileans to increase confidence in their president
The apparent humorous spontaneity of Piñera – which he has already tried to wield on other occasions – does not seem to help Chileans increase confidence in their president, whose popularity plunged after the social outbreak of last October. The poor management of the pandemic by the right-wing government has done nothing other than strengthen the leader’s disapproval rate, which a poll released this Sunday by the Cadem institute places it at 78%. According to this opinion poll, Piñera’s approval has fallen two points since July and stands at just 18%.
The constant occurrences and gaffes of the president are known in Chile as pineapple, since his first government (2010-2014). During the pandemic, the president has starred in several outbursts, beyond controversial political decisions, such as when at the beginning of the health crisis he sneezed into his hand and passed it through his nose just when the Minister of Health gave instructions to prevent contagions. More recently, the president was questioned for coming to buy wine in the middle of quarantine or for asking that the coffin be opened during the funeral of an uncle of his who died from Covid, despite the fact that health regulations prohibit it.
Chile accumulates more than 411,000 infections and almost 11,300 deaths from the disease. The southern country occupies the seventh position in the world in relative mortality, with 590 deaths per million inhabitants.
Saturday’s phrase – which looks like a fake news without being so – it is already circulating on social networks, along with other allegorical memes. One of these jokes is a cartoon where the president and the virus meet face to face. “And I ask the coronavirus to leave us alone and leave,” says Piñera. The virus, drawn in green and with its characteristic crown around it, responds to the president: “And bosnia?”, A Chilean idiom that means “and you?”, With which the author, the popular cartoonist Guillo, expresses the petition for the resignation of the president, demanded in the streets since October by thousands of Chileans.
And I ask the coronavirus to leave us alone and to go away “
