Kast sworn in as new president

Chile's most right-wing president in over three decades, Jose Antonio Kast, was to be sworn in yesterday on a promise to tackle surging rates of violent crime and carry out mass migrant deportations.

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Chile's president-elect Jose Antonio Kast gives a speech after winning the presidential runoff election in Santiago on Dec 14, 2025. AFP

(AFP)

Chile is the latest Latin American country to lurch to the right as voters back law-and-order candidates to fight the spread of organized crime.

Mr Kast, 60, trounced Jeannette Jara, a communist, in December's election runoff to clinch the presidency on his third attempt.

He is Chile’s most hardline leader since the brutal 1973-1990 dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet - whom Mr Kast greatly admires.

Last week, Mr Kast was among a dozen right-wing allies of US President Donald Trump who gathered in Florida to seal a new US-led "Counter Cartel" military coalition.