José Antonio Kast, the Pinochet fan about to swerve Chile to the far right

The new president won office by promising to clean up crime, but his background is red rag to a bull for many Just south of Santiago, the tiny rural town of Paine is a quiet grid of painted adobe facades, shaded squares and shuttered shop fronts as the summer holidays draw to a close. But the white-knuckle fear of crime that propelled its most famous son, José Antonio Kast, to a resounding victory in December’s presidential election is as present in sleepy Paine as it is the length of Chile. “We have so much crime here – robberies, guns, drugs, you name it,” said María Elena Balcázar at a table in her roadside cafe opposite the Parroquia Santa María Virgen de Paine, the church where the Kast family would attend mass. “Past eight o’clock nobody goes out anymore, everyone is scared,” she said. “People voted for José Antonio Kast because he promised strong, drastic changes.” Kast, 60, whose career on the most extreme rightwing fringes of Chilean politics has often courted controversy, was elected president at the third attempt when he won 58% of the vote. Chileans voted for iron-fisted solutions to increased violence and illegal immigration – the tenets of Kas

Mar 11, 2026 → Mar 31, 2026