Sebastián Piñera in the context of Christian Democratic Party (Chile)

This article lists the commanders-in-chief of the Chilean Army. The Chilean Army (Spanish: Ejército de Chile) is the land force of Chile. The Chilean Army dates back to 1810.

The current Commander-in-Chief is Army General Javier Iturriaga del Campo. He was appointed by former President Sebastián Piñera on 9 March 2022.

General elections were held in Chile on Sunday, 11 December 2005 to elect the president and members of the National Congress. None of the four presidential candidates received an absolute majority, leading to a runoff election between the top two candidates — Michelle Bachelet from the Coalition of Parties for Democracy and Sebastián Piñera from National Renewal — on Sunday, 15 January 2006. Bachelet was victorious with 53.49% of the vote. She succeeded President Ricardo Lagos on 11 March 2006, for a period of four years, after Congress reformed the Constitution in September 2005 and reduced the term from six years.

A series of massive demonstrations and severe riots, known in Chile as the Social Outburst (Spanish: Estallido Social), originated in Santiago and took place in all regions of Chile, with a greater impact in the regional capitals. The protests mainly occurred between October 2019 and March 2020, in response to a raise in the Santiago Metro's subway fare, a probity crisis, cost of living, university graduate unemployment, privatisation, and inequality prevalent in the country.

The protests began in Chile's capital, Santiago, as a coordinated fare evasion campaign by secondary school students which led to spontaneous takeovers of the city's main train stations and open confrontations with the Carabineros de Chile (the national gendarmerie). On 18 October, the situation escalated as a group of people began vandalizing Santiago's infrastructure; seizing, vandalizing, and burning down many stations of the Santiago Metro network and disabling them with extensive infrastructure damage; and for a time causing the closure of the network in its entirety. Eighty-one stations sustained major damage, including seventeen burned down. On the same day, president of Chile Sebastián Piñera announced a state of emergency, authorizing the deployment of Chilean Army forces across the main regions to enforce order and prevent the destruction of public property, and invoked before the courts the Ley de Seguridad del Estado ("State Security Law") against dozens of detainees. A curfew was declared on 19 October in the Greater Santiago area.

The Chacao Channel (Spanish: Canal de Chacao) is located in Los Lagos Region, Chile and separates Chiloé Island from mainland Chile. The channel is about 40 km long and 4 km wide and connects the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Ancud. The channel was created during the Quaternary glaciations by successive glaciers that flowed down from the Andes to the coast. The construction of a bridge connecting the island with the continent was discussed at government level for some time, but during the first government of Michelle Bachelet (2006–2010) it was turned down due to its high cost in comparison with other proposals that could be done to benefit islanders. Later, it was reactivated during Sebastián Piñera government, and finally auctioned. Construction started in 2017 and expected to be completed in 2028.

A single-circuit 220 kV-powerline with a span-length of 2682 metres crosses the Chacao Channel, built in 1995. The towers of each end of this span are 179 metres tall.