Chile has elected far-right candidate José Antonio Kast as its next president, marking the country’s most dramatic political shift since the end of military rule in 1990.
Kast secured a decisive victory with over 58% of the vote, defeating left-wing candidate Jeanette Jara after a campaign dominated by issues of crime, immigration, and national security.
The result represents a sharp turn to the right for a nation long governed by center-left and conservative coalitions in the post-dictatorship era.
Kast, who has openly praised former military ruler Augusto Pinochet, campaigned on a platform of restoring order through strict law enforcement, sharp public spending cuts, and a crackdown on irregular immigration.
In a fiery victory speech to flag-waving supporters in Santiago, Kast declared, “Chile will once again be free from crime, free from anguish, free from fear.”
He vowed to pursue criminals aggressively: “We’re going to look for them, find them, judge them and then we’re going to lock them up.”
His pledges resonated with voters like Augustina Trancoso, who wore a red “Make Chile Great Again” cap at the rally. “I’m happy we can recover the country’s security and patriotism,” she said. Another supporter, Belem Valdivieso, expressed hope that Kast would fulfill his promises to address rising street crime.
An admirer of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Kast has proposed policies that mirror Trump’s rhetoric, including building a border wall along Chile’s frontier with Peru and Bolivia, constructing maximum-security prisons, and carrying out mass deportations of undocumented migrants, many of whom are Venezuelan.
With his election, Chile now aligns itself with a growing bloc of right-wing populist leaders in the Americas.
By James Kisoo
