Jose Antonio Kast was sworn in as Chile’s president on Wednesday, ushering in the country’s sharpest shift to the right in decades as voters, alarmed by rising insecurity, backed a broader conservative turn sweeping parts of Latin America.
In his first address to the nation, Kast described a country riddled with organised crime and weak finances and painted his administration as an emergency government aimed at fixing those problems.
“They’ve handed us a country in conditions worse than we imagined,” Kast said, addressing a crowd of thousands of supporters who gathered outside La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago on Wednesday night.
“To face those emergencies, in security, health, education, employment and more, Chile needs an emergency government and that’s what we’ll be.”
Kast also called for unity and said the government would conduct audits across the government and crack down on crime, immigration and corruption.
“We’re going to restore our country, we’re going to restore our streets, we’re going to restore our institutions. We’re going to restore hope,” Kast said. “We build the future together.”
Before addressing the crowd, Kast signed a number of presidential decrees with several focused on improving border security in the country’s northern desert region as well as a full audit of the state’s finances.
Kast has promised to clamp down on migration and crime while boosting economic growth through deregulation, spending cuts and market-friendly policy.
Kast takes office from left-wing President Gabriel Boric – who beat him in 2021 – as Chile grapples with rising crime, economic jitters, and global market turmoil sparked by the Iran war.
Protesters also gathered in Valparaiso and Santiago throughout the day, clashing with police and shouting chants against imperialism, capitalism, the United States and Kast before being dispersed by water cannons and tear gas.
A shooting that left one police officer brain dead earlier in the day in the southern city of Puerto Varas highlighted those security concerns and led Kast to send his new security minister, Trinidad Steinert, to the city.
“There’s going to be a before and an after. Whoever attacks a (police officer) attacks Chile,” Kast told reporters when asked about the shooting earlier in the day.
“We’re going to find them, judge them and apply the full force of the law.”
