Vamos Chile! Ex-president's brother releases World Cup song

[May 16, 2014]  SANTIAGO (Reuters) — Miguel Pinera, famed in Chile for writing bouncy pop songs, dating models and being the brother of ex-President Sebastian Pinera, has released a track ahead of the soccer World Cup exhorting his fellow Chileans to cheer on the national squad.

"Vamos Chile" is intended as a homage to the Chilean team who will play in the finals in Brazil, said the flamboyant Pinera, whose dark beard and rotund shape give him a look similar to former Argentine soccer star Maradona.

"Come on Chile, come on Chile, we are going to the World Cup. With caipirinha and piscola we are going to celebrate," says the song, released this week.

A caipirinha is a classic Brazilian cocktail, while the piscola combination of local grape spirit pisco and cola is a Chilean favorite.

Nightclub owner Pinera, who has said he went to the Woodstock music festival in the 1960s, is well-known in his home country for a rather different lifestyle to his brother.

Sebastian Pinera is a billionaire businessman who was President of Chile from 2010, stepping down in March as Michelle Bachelet took over. He achieved brief international fame in 2010 when 33 Chilean miners were rescued after weeks underground following a mining accident.

The World Cup finals kick off on June 12 and Chile is in Group B with defending champions Spain, the Netherlands, and Australia.

(Reporting by Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Grant McCool)

[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.