José Antonio Kast, right-wing extremist and devoted follower of Chilean fascist dictator Augusto Pinochet, won the Dec. 14 runoff presidential election, garnering 58.30% of the vote over former Labor Minister Jeannette Jara’s 41.70%. His victory brings another ultra-right President into the group that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is pulling together in South America to counter the leadership of Brazil’s Lula da Silva and the BRICS. Others of Kast’s ilk are Argentina’s Javier Milei, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, Paraguayan President Santiago Peña, Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa, and now Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz. On Dec. 16, Kast will fly to Argentina to meet with his lunatic ally, Javier Milei. Kast’s Republican party won’t have a majority in Congress, not even in alliance with other right-wing parties, so he’ll have to negotiate on any legislation he wants to pass.
Rubio sent a gushing congratulations message to Kast on Dec. 14, expressing confidence that Chile “will advance shared priorities to include strengthening public security, ending illegal immigration, and revitalizing our commercial relationship.” The U.S. seeks to work closely with his administration “to deepen our partnership and promote shared prosperity in our hemisphere.” This is not so surprising given Rubio’s close friendship with Kast, which dates back to the Chilean’s 2021 presidential run. Rubio traveled to Chile to meet him at that time and then hosted Kast in Washington when he came to make a U.S. tour.
Unlike his 2021 campaign, the ultra-Catholic Kast didn’t run on the controversial social issues he champions—abortion, homosexuality and wokeness—but focused instead on security, crime and immigration which are big issues in Chile. He intends to close the northern border and deport more than 300,000 illegal immigrants, largely from Venezuela and Colombia. His anti-crime agenda includes building maximum security prisons like those in El Salvador built by the Bukele government, with which he’s been consulting.
One of Kast’s dirty secrets is the fact that his father was a member of the Nazi Party in Germany and rose through the ranks, until he fled the country in 1947. Kast’s older brother Miguel, a graduate of the University of Chicago, served as Labor Minister and Central Bank Governor in Pinochet’s government, where he was instrumental in imposing the fascist “Chicago Boy” economic policies that destroyed Chile’s economy and population, including the use of torture and assassination.
