You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Chile’s New Right-Wing President José Antonio Kast Takes Office

HeadlineMar 11, 2026

Chilean LGBTQ and women’s rights activists are gearing up for the inauguration of José Antonio Kast today, the most right-wing president elected in Chile since the U.S.-backed Pinochet military dictatorship. Kast advocates for a total abortion ban in Chile and, as a congressman, voted against the right to a divorce in 2004. Kast is an unapologetic supporter of Pinochet. Kast’s party has announced plans to repeal Chile’s current abortion law, which allows the procedure in cases of rape.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top