Revision History

José Antonio Kast, an ultraconservative Catholic and open admirer of dictator Augusto Pinochet, was inaugurated as Chile's president on March 11, 2026, marking the country's sharpest rightward turn since its return to democracy in 1990. His landslide victory — with 58% of the runoff vote — was driven by public anger over rising crime, irregular immigration, and economic stagnation, and fits within a broader conservative wave sweeping Latin America.