Chile Veers hard-right

The new president is an admirer of Pinochet, and his father was a Nazi

Far-right candidate José Antonio Kast cruised to a win in presidential elections in Chile with just over 58% of the vote. His opponent was former Labor Minister Jeannette Jara, a Communist Party politician who represented current President Gabriel Boric’s centre-left coalition.

Kast, who has been an outspoken admirer of Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet, will lead the most conservative government in the country since Pinochet left office in 1990.

Kast has promised draconian security crackdowns and mass deportation of migrants from the country, modeled after the ongoing programs of US President Donald Trump.

In a speech to supporters after declaring victory, he promised that Chile will now be “free of fear…Criminals, delinquents — their lives are going to change. We’re going to look for them, find them, judge them, and then we’re going to lock them up.”

Many supporters at his victory celebration wore red “Make Chile Great Again” caps, modeled after those popularized by Trump in the US.

Chile is one of the safest countries in Latin America, and crime has dropped even further in recent years. But the ultra-right candidate stoked voters’ fears of organized crime as well as of migrants.

Chile has seen a marked rise in Venezuelan migrants since 2019, though it has nowhere near the numbers of Peru, Colombia, or Brazil. Nonetheless, Kant seized on nativist sentiment, often repeating questionable or even outright false claims about Venezuelans as well as the Tren de Aragua.

He says he plans to expel more than 350,000 irregular migrants from the country.

He also promises to impose stricter mandatory sentencing, crackdowns that result in more arrests of criminals, and promises to put cartel leaders in “total isolation” in supermax facilities to cut them off from any communication with the outside world.

Some of his critics have accused him of creating a false sense of insecurity in the country. Nonetheless, his message seems to have resonated with voters.

Unlike Honduras, elections went smoothly. Jara conceded early in the evening. “Democracy has spoken loud and clear. I have just spoken with President-elect [Kast] to wish him success for the good of Chile,” Jara wrote on social media.

It was Kast’s third attempt at running for president. He was soundly defeated by Boric in the last elections, who went on to become the youngest president in Chile’s history.

Boric’s center-left platform has suffered since he took office. He will leave the presidency with a 30% approval rating and frustration among voters, who were promised social reforms as well as a Constitutional referendum, but received neither.

Boric is prevented by the Constitution from seeking a second term.

Chile still uses the Constitution imposed by Pinochet while he was in office, though it has been amended. Kast has said he intends to keep it that way.

The right-wing firebrand often denies that Pinochet was a dictator, calling demonstrable historical facts of torture, assassinations, and violent political oppression “revisionism.”

When asked about Pinochet by a journalist, Kast once famously quipped, “If he were alive, he would vote for me.”

Kast’s father was a volunteer for the Nazi German army during World War II, a fact that has long plagued his political career. He has at times lied that his father was involuntarily conscripted, but German war records found by Chilean journalists have proven that to not be the case.

Big-business interests in Washington D.C., were pleased by Kast’s victory. He has promised, much like Pinochet, to deregulate Chile’s economy considerably, as well as strongly encourage foreign investment.

Chile’s election represents a broad swing towards the right in Latin America in recent years. Argentina, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Bolivia, and El Salvador (and Honduras, maybe if they ever get their election process together) have all swung sharply right, leaving leftist leaders in the region somewhat isolated.

Kast will govern over a nearly evenly split legislative branch, a factor that may force him to moderate some of his hardline positions.

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