Piñera was sworn in as the 35th President of the Republic of Chile on 11 March 2010 , in a ceremony held in a plenary session of the National Congress in Valparaíso . In the same ceremony , Piñera 's Cabinet ministers were sworn in . The ceremony was also marked by a 6.9 Mw earthquake and subsequent aftershocks that upset the invitees . Shortly after , the National Congress building was evacuated due to a tsunami alert that proved to be false a couple of hours later . On 12 October 2010 , Piñera rallied his countrymen in the rescue of 33 trapped miners , all of whom were rescued after 70 days following a mining accident . " Chile will never be the same " , he said to the miners ' foreman , Luis Urzúa , as he ( the last of the miners to emerge from the cavern ) greeted Piñera , in a broadcast carried live across the globe . Despite much goodwill in Chile following this , many Chileans are still waiting on Piñera to rectify anti-terrorism laws in Chile which effectively mean the indigenous Mapuche people can be dealt with as " terrorists " . This matter has led to hunger strikes which started before the mining disaster , and are set to continue afterwards
mining accident
2010 Copiapó mining accident
Sebastián Piñera