Chile elects far-right supporter of dictator Pinochet as president

On Sunday, December 14, 59-year-old far-right politician Jose Antonio Cast won the presidential election in Chile. About reported Reuters.

Kast capitalized on voter fears of rising crime and migration to steer the country into its sharpest turn to the right since the end of the military dictatorship in 1990.

He won a convincing 58% of the vote in the second round. His rival was the government-backed leftist candidate Jeanette Hara, who received 42% of the vote.

Throughout his long political career, Kast has been a consistent right-wing hardliner. He has proposed the construction of border walls, the deployment of the military in high-crime areas, and the deportation of all migrants in the country illegally.

In his victory speech on Sunday, Cast promised "real change."

"Without security, there is no peace. Without peace, there is no democracy, and without democracy, there is no freedom, and Chile will return to a status free of crime, anxiety and fear," he said.

The politician pointed to the difficult road ahead, saying that "there are no magic solutions" and that change will require perseverance and time.

This campaign was Castro's third attempt to run for president and second round after his defeat by leftist President Gabriel Borich in 2021. Cast, once considered too extremist by many Chileans, attracted voters increasingly concerned about crime and immigration.

BBC writes that Cast openly praised the former right-wing dictator of Chile, Augusto Pinochet, who actually ruled the country from 1973 to 1990.

Cast is also an admirer of the US president Donald Trump who is likely to become his close ally, and his policies echo those of the current US leader. He has promised to build a wall on Chile's border with Peru and Bolivia, create maximum security prisons, and deport illegal migrants en masse, many of them from Venezuela.

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