Weekly Report - 18 March 2010 (WR-10-11)

Ancient augurs would have found plenty to say, without needing to consult oracles, when Sebastián Piñera was sworn in as president on 11 March. Just 20 minutes before Chile's first elected right-wing president since 1958 was inaugurated in Valparaí­so, fierce aftershocks struck central and southern regions of Chile, leaving congressmen and the seven visiting presidents looking anxiously at the ceiling overhead. No sooner had Piñera received the presidential sash and the star of Bernardo O'Higgins than he was off to Rancagua, the capital of the region named after the country's liberator, to see the worst of the latest damage for himself.