Ernesto Julio Platera Hernández (born March 9, 1933) is a retired Chilean politician and lawyer, who briefly served as President of Chile from 1987 to 1989 and ran as the Communist candidate in the 1990, 1994 and 1998 Chilean presidential elections. As the second and final Communist President, Platera was the man largely held responsible for the collapse of the Chilean economy in 1988 and the subsequent fall of communism in 1989, although he remained popular enough within hard-left circles to lead the party through the 1990's.