Kast takes office as Chile marks its sharpest shift to the right since dictatorship

VALPARAÍSO, Chile (AP) — Far-right leader José Antonio Kast was sworn in as Chile’s president Wednesday in the Latin American nation’s most pronounced rightward shift since the return of democracy in 1990.

In a ceremony at the National Congress in the coastal city of Valparaíso that was attended by dozens of heads of state, Kast and his Cabinet took their oaths of office after a landslide victory in the December elections.

Argentina’s President Javier Milei, Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, and Spain’s King Felipe VI were among the attendees. Other guests included Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado.

There were several high-profile absences, including Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Nayib Bukele of El Salvador. A modest U.S. delegation was led by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.

In his first speech as president Wednesday night, Kast said Chile has real adversaries, including “those who have sown terror in neighborhoo...