Chile's New Hardline Conservative Leader Becomes Part of a Growing Latin American Trend

The triumph of presidential candidate José Antonio Kast in Chile's latest runoff vote has received widespread praise from leading figures on the global right. Messages of support came swiftly from including American politician Marco Rubio, Hungary's Viktor Orbán, Italy's Giorgia Meloni, Argentina's Javier Milei, and entrepreneur Elon Musk.

The father to nine children, a devout Catholic known for his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage, and the son of a former Nazi party member, Kast secured 58.16% of the second-round ballot. This represented a lead of more than two million votes over his progressive opponent, former labour minister Jeannette Jara.

A Campaign Centered On Immigration and Security Concerns

Running for the presidency for the third consecutive election, Kast built his campaign on the assertion that a significant rise in immigration over the past decade had directly fueled a surge in crime rates.

Central to his flagship promises were two key measures reportedly modeled after the strategies of ex-American leader Donald Trump. These encompassed:

• The deportation of approximately 330,000 people residing illegally, the vast bulk of whom are Venezuelan.
• The construction of detention centers and the installation of formidable border fortifications. These were to include five-meter-high walls, electric fences, three-meter-deep trenches, and an enhanced military presence along the national border.

A Historic Turn for Post-Dictatorship Chile

Political observers interpret Kast's win as part of a broader swing between progressive and right governments that has characterized the country's politics for a decade and a half. However, Kast stands as the most conservative leader elected as president since Chile's transition to democracy in 1990.

He is the first post-dictatorship president to publicly state his respect for the former military ruler Augusto Pinochet, whose regime was associated with widespread human rights abuses. Among his numerous tributes about Pinochet, Kast once remarked, "If Pinochet been alive, he surely would voted for me."

"His election is bad news for Chile's democratic institutions," stated an expert on populism, Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. "What we are seeing a return to the roots of a conservative movement that historically did not have a commitment to democracy."

Part of a Regional Conservative Wave

A significant number of commentators and political leaders interpret Kast's election as integral to a broader conservative wave moving across Latin America. This trend has included similar electoral victories this year in nations such as Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, and, based on lengthy vote counts, likely Honduras.

Colombia's leftist president, Gustavo Petro, recognized this development, writing on social media: "From the Southern Cone and from Central America blow the winds carrying death... Fascism marches forward."

The "Bukele Effect" and Security Measures

Alongside this political shift, there is a parallel regional embrace of "hardline security measures," explained Sandra Pellegrini, a lead researcher for Latin America. She links this phenomenon largely to a pervasive public belief that the tactics of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele have been effective in reducing crime.

Kast has described himself as an enthusiastic supporter of Bukele, who has detained at least two percent of his nation's adults under a controversial state of emergency aimed at criminal organizations.

"The public are not seeing, or appear unconcerned by, is the compromise behind such a decrease – which has been a dramatic surge in violence by the state and abuses," Pellegrini stated.

External Pressures and Potential Consequences

Analysts also point to external dynamics that may be shaping this regional trend. A recently published report contends that a American military expansion near Venezuela and lethal operations on suspected drug vessels "may be more about pressuring governments to support its strategic objectives."

The report suggests this view, pressure from the U.S. for governments to adopt "tougher" stances is aimed at "reasserting the U.S. as the primary economic player in the Americas and gaining control of the region's resources."

"Carrying out military actions – or executions without trial, as the UN have called them – is clearly sending a message to governments across the region that civil liberties are no longer a priority and that the penalty of committing abuses is minimal," Pellegrini warned.

She expressed concern about a real risk of seeing an escalation of such tactics in the near future, "not only in Chile, but across the other governments that have chosen the road of militarization."