Jose Antonio Kast Gets Sworn in as Chile’s President

(MENAFN) Jose Antonio Kast was sworn in as Chile’s president on Wednesday in a ceremony at the National Congress in Valparaiso. The 60-year-old assumed office in the Hall of Honor, with outgoing President Gabriel Boric handing over the Piocha de O’Higgins, a traditional symbol of the Chilean presidency.

Following the inauguration, Kast met foreign delegations for a luncheon at the Cerro Castillo Presidential Palace in Vina del Mar and later traveled to Santiago to address the public from the balcony of La Moneda Palace.

The ceremony was attended by international leaders, including Spain’s King Felipe VI, Argentine President Javier Milei, Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz, Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, Honduran President Nasry Asfura, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chavez, Paraguayan President Santiago Pena, and Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, along with numerous diplomats.

Kast, a lawyer from a family of German origin, has long been a prominent figure on Chile’s far right. He began his political career at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, joining the Gremial Movement founded by Jaime Guzman, a close ally of former military ruler Augusto Pinochet. Kast spent nearly 20 years in the right-wing Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party, serving as a municipal council member and later as a lawmaker from 2002 to 2018.

In 2019, he founded the Republican Party to represent a harder political line than the traditional right. Known for advocating strict security measures, opposing immigration, and promoting conservative social policies, Kast has frequently drawn controversy for remarks seen as sympathetic to the Pinochet era.

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