
Chile entered a new political phase on Wednesday with the inauguration of José Antonio Kast, the most conservative figure to reach La Moneda since the return to democracy. Kast was sworn in at Congress in Valparaíso and then moved to the presidential palace, where he defended the idea of an “emergency government” and said he was receiving “a country in worse conditions than we could have imagined.”
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José Antonio Kast was sworn in as Chile’s president on Wednesday in a ceremony at the National Congress in Valparaíso, in a transfer of power that confirmed the country’s sharpest shift to the right since the return to democracy in 1990. Senate President Paulina Núñez administered the oath and placed the presidential sash on him, formalizing the handover from Gabriel Boric.
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In his final national address before handing the presidential sash to José Antonio Kast on Wednesday, Chilean President Gabriel Boric defended his government’s record, highlighted progress in security, pensions and healthcare, and accepted political responsibility for two of the most damaging episodes of the final stretch of his administration: the handling of the Monsalve case and the failed purchase of former President Salvador Allende’s house.
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José Antonio Kast will be sworn in as Chile’s president on Wednesday with a pledge to lead an “emergency government” focused on security, the economy and migration control, as he seeks to turn his electoral mandate into early, visible action. His team has drafted a first 90-day roadmap combining administrative measures, regulatory changes and an initial batch of bills meant to show movement from the outset.
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Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has canceled a planned trip to Chile to attend José Antonio Kast’s inauguration on Wednesday and will instead be represented at the ceremony by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira. Brazilian officials said the change was due to “scheduling reasons.”
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Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has arrived in Chile to attend Wednesday’s ceremony in which Gabriel Boric will hand over the presidency to José Antonio Kast, in a visit that also includes an event with Venezuelan residents in Santiago and several public appearances in the capital. She is among the international guests invited to the transfer of power, where Kast will formally take office at Congress in Valparaíso.
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U.S. President Donald Trump will host leaders from 12 Latin American and Caribbean countries in Doral, Florida, on March 7 for the so-called Shield of the Americas Summit, a meeting the White House is framing as a forum on security, migration and hemispheric cooperation. The gathering comes amid a broader U.S. diplomatic and military push in the region and just weeks before Trump is expected to travel to China.
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Chile’s president-elect José Antonio Kast said on Tuesday he is suspending the handover process with outgoing President Gabriel Boric, arguing his team cannot trust the information it has received on key issues, including a China-linked subsea fiber-optic project that would connect central Chile with Hong Kong.

With Chile’s presidential handover set for March 11, outgoing President Gabriel Boric is closing his term amid a diplomatic dispute with the United States over a China Mobile-backed undersea fiber-optic cable project that would link Chile’s coast in the Valparaíso region to Hong Kong—an issue now landing on president-elect José Antonio Kast’s desk.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Chile’s president-elect José Antonio Kast held their first bilateral meeting in Panama on Tuesday, shortly after arriving for the International Economic Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean — an event promoted by organizers and regional media as a “Latin Davos.”