Jose Antonio Kast
© Esteban Felix - AP via El PaisJose Antonio Kast has promised to build physical barriers on the country's northern frontier.
In an election where the decisive themes echoed mounting concerns in the Americas and Europe, a conservative who's vowed to crack down on illegal immigration and crime trounced his Communist opponent in Sunday's presidential election in Chile. The result confirms a major political current that now has many Latin American countries embracing right-wing politics.

With 98% of the votes counted, 57-year-old José Antonio Kast was coasting to a 58%-to-42% clobbering of Jeannette Jara, a member of the Communist Party. Kast, a devout Roman Catholic and father of nine, will replace incumbent leftist President Gabriel Boric. It was Kast's third presidential bid. Underscoring the comprehensiveness of his victory, Kast won all of Chile's regions, including historic leftist strongholds.

"Chile will be free from crime again, free from anguish, free from fear," said Kast in a victory speech at his campaign headquarters in the capital city of Santiago. "Chile needs order." He assured supporters he would clamp down on criminals and "lock them up." Supporters displayed banners with slogans like "Bye-Bye Illegals" and "Play Time is Over."

Jose Antonio Kast embraces his wife at a rally in Chile
Jose Antonio Kast embraces his wife at a rally in Chile
Crime weighed heavily in the contest, with 63% of Chileans saying it was their biggest worry. That's about double the global average. Illegal immigration (40%) is the second-biggest concern. The two worries go hand-in-hand, as a 50% surge in murders from 2018 to 2024 is largely the work of international criminal gangs. Chile has more than 300,000 illegal immigrants, many of them Venezuelan.

At Kast's victory rally, supporters wore red "Make Chile Great Again" hats, and confirmed that crime helped flip the country into the right-wing country. "I grew up in a peaceful Chile where you could go out in the street, you had no worry, you went out and you never had problems or fear," 23-year-old engineering student Ignacio Segovia told Reuters. "Now you can't go out peacefully."

Kast will take office in March. Guiding off the inauguration date, he has repeatedly warned illegals of how many days they have to self-deport, before his administration kicks them out. Self-deporation, Kast has said, will give them the opportunity to bring their possessions with them, while avoiding detention. "If you don't leave voluntarily, we will detain you, retain you, expel you, and you'll leave with what you have on," said Kast. Kast's looming victory had already had a striking effect, with wary illegal immigrants surging into Peru -- so much so that Peruvian President Jose Jeri declared a state of emergency in late November. Meanwhile, authorities along Chile's border say illegal entries have plummeted.


Writing on X, Argentinian President Javier Milei was exuberant about the "crushing victory" of Kast, whom he described as a friend, adding:
"One more step for our region in defense of life, freedom, and private property. I am certain that we will work together so that America embraces the ideas of freedom and we can free ourselves from the oppressive yoke of twenty-first century socialism...!!!"
Milei also posted a map depicting South America's large number of right-wing governments, saying, "The left retreats, freedom advances." Chile joins Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador as countries with right or center-right governments. The Bolivian outcome earlier this year ended nearly 20 years of socialist rule.


Which country will be next?