Chilean president Sebastian Pinera arrived in Britain last night saying Chile had given a great example to the world of “commitment, courage, faith, hope and unity”.
Mr Pinera flew in to London’s Heathrow Airport bearing lumps of rock from the bottom of the San Jose mine after 33 miners were freed at the end of 69 days underground.
“Chile has given a good example of what is the real meaning of commitment, courage faith, hope and unity,” he said after his arrival.
“We did it because we were united, we did it because we were convinced, and did it because we would never leave anyone behind. And that’s a very good principle for Chile and for the world.
“This has been very good news because it started as a tragedy but with the help of God and with the resolution, the commitment and the unity of the Chilean people we were able to end this story as a real blessing.”
Mr Pinera will meet British prime minister David Cameron tomorrow before a trip to Buckingham Palace to meet Queen Elizabeth II. He said he intends to give each of them a piece of rock from the mine.
“For us it will be a great honour to meet the queen and we’re looking forward to it,” he said. “We have a great admiration for David Cameron. He is a very good friend of ours.
“He was able to create a new majority to transform and modernise the Conservative Party and to find new solutions for old problems and that’s something that I’m sure will be very good for England.”
He said he had brought “many presents” for Mr Cameron and the Queen, including a copy of the first message the miners sent to the surface, which read: “We are well in the shelter, the 33.”
He continued: “I’m also bringing a piece of rock that was taken by one of the miners. One for David Cameron, another one for the queen. And also we are bringing the gratitude of all the Chileans because we received a lot of help from our friends around the world.”