Chile’s hard-right President-elect Jose Antonio Kast said on Tuesday (December 16, 2025) that he would back efforts to end Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s “dictatorship,” giving Washington yet another regional ally in its showdown with Caracas.

Mr. Kast said he supported “any situation” to do away with Mr. Maduro’s government as he visited Argentina — his first foreign trip since he easily defeated a leftist candidate in Sunday’s (December 14) election run-off.

Mr. Kast had campaigned on promises to deport more than 300,000 mostly Venezuelan irregular migrants, tackle crime and secure the northern border.

His win confirms a right-wing lurch in Latin America, following victories for the right in Argentina, Bolivia, Honduras, El Salvador and Ecuador.

It also expands President Donald Trump’s support base in the region at a time when he is considering strikes on Venezuelan territory.

On a visit to Buenos Aires on Tuesday (December 16), Mr. Kast said that while Chile itself would “not intervene” in Venezuela, “if someone is going to do it, let’s be clear that it solves a gigantic problem for us and all of Latin America, all of South America, and even for countries in Europe.”

Mr. Kast blamed Venezuela’s economic meltdown and migrant outflow on the leftist Mr. Maduro, whom he called “a narco-dictator.”

Around seven million Venezuelans have emigrated since 2014, fleeing a severe economic and political crisis under an increasingly authoritarian Mr. Maduro.

“It is not our responsibility to solve it (the Venezuelan crisis), but whoever does will have our support,” Mr. Kast said.

Before the election, Mr. Kast had called on undocumented Venezuelans in Chile to self-deport or be thrown out when he takes office in March.

But hundreds of migrants who tried to travel home last month found themselves blocked at the border with Peru, which is refusing them entry.

Mr. Kast has proposed the creation of a “humanitarian corridor” through South America to allow Venezuelans and other migrants to return home.

Mr. Maduro has reacted angrily to Mr. Kast’s broadsides against Venezuela.

On Monday (December 15), he likened Mr. Kast to Hitler and warned him to “watch out if you so much as touch a single hair on a Venezuelan’s head.”

His remark about Adolf Hitler was seen as a swipe at Mr. Kast’s German-born father, who was a member of the Nazi party and a soldier during World War II.

Mr. Kast insists his father was a forced conscript and did not support the Nazis.

He chose Chile’s neighbor and sometimes economic rival, Argentina, for his first visit abroad.

Libertarian leader Javier Milei gave a warm welcome to the Chilean, whom he sees as an ideological ally.

On Sunday (December 14), he hailed Mr. Kast’s victory over the candidate of the outgoing leftist government as “another step forward in our region in defense of life, liberty, and private property.”

Chileans will elect a new President on Sunday (December 14, 2025), facing a stark choice between the most right-wing candidate in 35 years of democracy and the head of a broad leftist coalition.

Almost 16 million citizens can cast their ballot in the runoff vote between father-of-nine Jose Antonio Kast and his rival Jeannette Jara, a longstanding member of the Communist Party.

Polls show Mr. Kast as the strong front-runner, with his tough-on-crime and anti-migrant message seemingly registering with Chileans.

“The country is falling apart” 59-year-old Mr. Kast has claimed on the campaign trail, often speaking from behind bulletproof glass to underscore his point.

Once one of the safest and most prosperous countries in the Americas, Chile has been hit hard in recent years by the COVID-19 pandemic, violent social protests, and an influx of foreign organised crime.

Mr. Kast is far to the right of most Chileans on many issues.

But voters fed up with high crime and slow growth during four years of leftist rule say they will vote for change, despite misgivings.

Mr. Kast has vowed to deport hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants, opposed abortion without exceptions, and voiced support for the bloody dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Polls show more than 60% of Chileans think security is the top issue facing the country — far eclipsing the economy, healthcare, or education.

And while statistics show that violent crime — fueled by Venezuelan, Peruvian, Colombian and Ecuadoran gangs — has risen in the last ten years, fears about crime have risen even faster.

‘Pinochet out of uniform’

But Mr. Kast’s hardline positions have also brought fears that he will edge Chile back toward the bad old days of a dictatorship that killed or disappeared more than 3,000 of its own citizens and tortured many thousands more.

“I’m fearful because I think we are going to have a lot of repression,” said 71-year-old retiree Cecilia Mora, who said that “under no circumstances” would she vote for Mr. Kast.

“The candidate of the right reminds me a lot of the dictatorship. I lived through the dictatorship. I was young, but I lived through it, suffered through it.”

“I see him as a Pinochet out of uniform,” she said, comparing Kast to a man who for decades was the medal-festooned caricature of a Latin American military dictator.

Pinochet left power in 1990, after Chileans rejected a bid to extend his 17-year rule via referendum.

As a university student, Kast campaigned for the pro-Pinochet vote.

His family background has also raised questions. Media investigations have revealed that Kast’s German-born father was a member of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party and a soldier during World War II.

Mr. Kast insists his father was a forced conscript and did not support the Nazis.

Incumbent blues

Ms. Jara led the first round of voting in November, but right-wing candidates garnered 70% of the vote.

In a head-to-head race between Kast and Ms. Jara, polls show him winning by more than ten percentage points.

Ms. Jara’s time as Labor Minister in the government of President Gabriel Boric has proven to be an Achilles’ Heel.

The 39-year-old President’s four-year term has been crippled by repeated failed attempts to reform the Pinochet-era constitution.

Being tied to the ruling party is almost a kiss of death in Chilean politics.

Since 2010, Chileans have alternated between left and right governments at every presidential election. At this election, voting is compulsory for the first time in more than a decade.

Polls will open at 8:00 a.m. Santiago time (1100 GMT).