With hard-right politician Jose Antonio Kast taking office as president in Chile, the spread of the "blue tide (conservatives taking power)" across Latin America is drawing attention. In particular, as representatives ideologically aligned with U.S. President Donald Trump have been elected in large numbers, attention is focusing on the impact of the "rightward shift in the region."
On the 11th (local time), Jose Antonio Kast, known as the "Trump of Chile," was inaugurated as the 41st president. In December, he defeated Communist Party candidate Hianette Jara to win voters' support, and as a result, Chile accepted an outcome that is the exact opposite of when the inauguration of former President Gabriel Boric placed the country in Latin America's "pink tide (leftist governments taking power)."
In his inaugural address, President Kast said he was "here to lead the mission of national recovery," marking the start of his four-year term. He emphasized that "democracy without public safety is a fiction, and freedom without public safety is the privilege of the few," signaling his intention to restore order, and he also stressed economic rebuilding, saying he would "break the shackles of regulation and bureaucracy so that Chile becomes the growth engine of Latin America."
A lawyer by training, President Kast is regarded as the most strongly right-leaning leader since former dictator Augusto Pinochet, who toppled Salvador Allende's socialist government in a coup. His German father was a Nazi Army lieutenant, and his brother served as Minister of Labor and as governor of the Central Bank under the Pinochet regime. Raised in Chile, Kast entered the Pontifical Catholic University and studied law, and he is known to have supported the proposal to extend the Pinochet regime by eight years.
Kast's rise to power is seen as an extension of the recent surge of gains by the conservative camp in Latin America. In the region, conservative presidents such as Argentina's Javier Milei, Honduras' Nasry Asfura, and Paraguay's Santiago Pena have taken office in large numbers, rapidly reshaping the political landscape.
The presidential inauguration held at the Congress in Valparaiso, Chile, was also assessed as a venue that brought together a network of Latin American conservative politicians. In attendance, along with Argentina's President Javier Milei, Paraguay's President Santiago Pena, and Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino, were prominent figures such as Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, who gathered to demonstrate their strength.
Experts cite distrust of the established political class and anxiety over public safety as the backdrop for the spread of right-wing governments. As problems intensify over crime, drug cartels, and illegal immigration, conservative politicians who emphasize tough law enforcement are gaining voter support, analysts say.
In fact, over the past 10 years, organized crime has surged across Latin America, and concerns over public safety have grown even in countries that previously had relatively low crime rates, such as Chile, Costa Rica, and Ecuador, with outbreaks of violence. For example, according to a Gallup poll, fewer than 40% among respondents in Chile said they felt safe walking at night, only slightly more than half the level in the United States (70%).
Will Freeman, a Latin America fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said, "Organized crime has tremendous transformative power," and noted, "In Latin America, more people are taking the view that if the state takes a tougher stance against criminal groups, they would give up some democratic freedoms and rights."
With Brazil and Colombia, where leftist governments are currently in power, also heading into elections this year, attention is on whether these countries will join the rightward shift. In Brazil, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is seeking a fourth term, while in the conservative camp, Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro has declared his candidacy. In Colombia, leftist Sen. Ivan Cepeda, a former human rights activist, and hard-right, pro-Trump lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella are set to face off.