The sale of a controversial mining project in the north of Chile, in 2011, got in trouble Mr Piñera a decade later.

After a 22-hour session, with one opposition speech that went on for 15 hours, the House approved Tuesday articles of impeachment against president Sebastián Piñera.

Piñera, a conservative billionaire, was accused of breach of probity and smearing the country’s image in the wake of the Pandora Papers.

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In his first administration, the Head of State sold to his best friend Dominga, a controversial mining project in the north of Chile.

The transaction took place in the British Virgin Islands and the Piñera family got their money in three installments.

However, the third payment (around US$9 million) was subject to the condition that the area where Dominga would be located had to remain unprotected.

To this day, no environmental measures protect La Higuera, a biodiversity hotspot.

With Dominga, Andes Iron plans to extract copper and iron.

To export the minerals, the firm also intends to build a port that experts warn will be detrimental to marine species, such as penguins, whales and dolphins.

In a 78-67 vote, the opposition managed to start impeachment proceedings in the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is required to remove Piñera from office.

Under Chilean law, if Piñera is convicted, he would also be banned from holding public office for the next five years.

Now, the Senate has up to six days to hold a floor vote on the matter, with presidential and parliamentary elections in two weeks.

After the massive protests against inequality that rocked Chile in late 2019, Piñera avoided an impeachment bid based on Human Rights violations by the Police and the Armed Forces thanks to a 79-73 vote in the House.