José Antonio Kast was inaugurated as Chile's president on March 11, 2026, in a ceremony at the National Congress in Valparaiso attended by dozens of heads of state. All outlets — from NPR to Bloomberg to the Washington Post — agree he is Chile's most right-wing leader since the U.S.-backed Pinochet military dictatorship ended in 1990.

Kast, 60, won a landslide in December's runoff against Jeannette Jara, a communist from outgoing President Gabriel Boric's coalition. He ran on an 'emergency government' platform focused on crime, immigration enforcement, and rolling back Boric's progressive agenda.

Bloomberg reported that Kast plans to 'signal swift alignment with Trump,' including tighter border controls and a harder line on crime. His platform promises increased law enforcement funding, stricter sentencing, and expanded border security — priorities that mirror the U.S. political debate.

NPR noted the inauguration 'marks an abrupt departure from the progressive agenda of leftist Gabriel Boric.' The Washington Post called it Chile's 'sharpest shift to the right since the dictatorship,' while noting that Kast has distanced himself from Pinochet's legacy despite his father's ties to the former regime.

The inauguration comes as Latin America's political landscape continues shifting: Argentina's Milei has pursued aggressive libertarian reforms, and right-leaning governments now lead several of the region's largest economies.