Vicuña Mackenna Square has a tree-lined walkway, benches beneath shelters and is the closest park to the shoreline. Its namesake is Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna who was a 19th century writer, newspaperman and politician. He was imprisoned in 1851 and exiled in 1858 for his views against the government. After he returned to Chile, he went on to become a national senator and then Santiago’s major.
