Chilean President Sebastian Pinera was fined $3,500 after he fessed up to posing maskless for a selfie on the beach with someone who recognized him — violating his country’s regulations.
The selfie, which surfaced on social media earlier this month, shows the president and the woman standing close to each other, neither wearing face coverings.
Pinera explained he was walking alone on the beach near his home in the posh seaside town of Cachagua when the woman requested a photo with him.
The South American country has strict rules requiring masks in all public places. Violations are punishable by fines and even jail terms.
Pinera apologized shortly after the image surfaced and turned himself in.
But this wasn’t the president’s first public slip-up.
He was previously photographed at a pizza party the same night protests over inequality raged in Santiago last year.
And later, after the pandemic kept protesters at home, he was captured posing for photos at the square where demonstrators had previously congregated.
Meanwhile, the pandemic peaked in Chile during the Southern Hemisphere winter in May and June, then subsided through November.
A total of 585,546 coronavirus cases and 16,197 deaths have been reported in the country, according to Johns Hopkins University figures available Monday.
With Post wires