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javier milei
Apologist for Pinochet Dictatorship Will Be Next President of Chile
José Antonio Kast has described the dictator who ended democracy for nearly two decades and presided over the persecution of tens of thousands of dissidents as someone who brought "order" to Chile.
Dec 15, 2025
José Antonio Kast, a far-right former lawmaker, won over 58% of the vote in Chile's runoff elections on Sunday over Jeannette Jara, the labor minister under outgoing left-wing President Gabriel Boric, to become the nation's next president.
The win came despite Kast's open admiration for General Augusto Pinochet, who ended civilian rule in Chile after taking power through a coup d'etat in 1973, overthrowing its democratically elected socialist leader in a US Central Intelligence Agency-backed plot and implementing a radical program of economic austerity.
Until he was ousted by a democratic referendum in 1990, Pinochet governed Chile as a military dictatorship rife with human rights abuses, resulting in his indictment by a Spanish court in 1996 for crimes against humanity. His regime assassinated or "disappeared" nearly 3,200 people, while tens of thousands were tortured and more forced into exile.
Human rights groups have accused Kast and his family—the patriarch of which was a member of the Nazi Party who fled to Chile in 1950—of collaboration with the Pinochet regime's detention of opponents. The president-elect's brother was a minister for Pinochet during the dictatorship.
Kast will be the first president of Chile since its return to democracy to have campaigned for and voted “Yes” in the 1988 plebiscite for the dictator to stay in power for another eight years despite his reign of terror.
But rather than distance himself from Pinochet's legacy, Kast has described himself as his spiritual successor.
In 2017, during his first of three presidential campaigns, Kast told a local newspaper that “if he were alive,” Pinochet “would vote for me.” Kast later described Pinochet as someone who brought “order” to Chile, comments that the Buenos Aires Times wrote in 2021, “railed many who are still scarred by this dark period in the country’s history.”
But Kast's nostalgia for that period of repression was not enough to hobble him this time around. At a time when the right is making gains across Latin America, Kast's policy agenda sits at the nexus point between the free market fundamentalism of Argentina's Javier Milei and the police state ambitions of El Salvador's Nayib Bukele.
He has pledged an economic program in the same vein as Pinochet's and, later, Milei's "shock therapy," proposing an unprecedented cut of $21 billion in public spending over his term, paired with a reduction in taxes on the wealthy.
Kast has pledged that these cuts would only affect "waste" and "political" spending, but not impact social programs that benefit Chileans. But economic analysts, including Javiera Toro, Chile's social development minister, have argued that a cut of that size would inevitably cut into the social safety net, including its popular state pension program and others related to health, housing, and education.
Kast successfully martialed fear of high crime (even though it actually fell under Boric's tenure) into outrage toward the nation's undocumented migrants—mainly from Venezuela—whom he has pledged to deport en masse. As in the US, where President Donald Trump is also spearheading a mass deportation operation, immigrants in Chile commit crimes at lower rates than those born in the country.
Last year, Kast visited the sprawling prison complex where Bukele has used emergency powers to detain tens of thousands of people as part of his sweeping war on gangs, often in punishing conditions where they've faced torture. Amnesty International described it as a "state policy of massive and arbitrary deprivation of liberty." Kast said he'd like to implement a similar policy in Chile.
Kast immediately raised fears for the future of Chile's democracy in his victory speech, vowing to form an "emergency government" when he takes power in 2026. However, he will not command a majority in Chile's legislature, which may make the delivery of his agenda more challenging.
Jenny Pribble, professor of political science and global studies at the University of Richmond, told Al Jazeera: “It remains to be seen if Kast could or would pursue such an approach, but if Chile follows the Salvadoran model, it would constitute significant democratic backsliding.”
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Boosted by Trump Extortion Threat Over US Bailout Funds, Milei Nabs Win in Argentina Midterms
"He was a big victor, and he had a lot of help from us," the president boasted.
Oct 27, 2025
President Donald Trump on Monday took credit after his political ally, Argentine President Javier Milei, scored a major victory in his country's midterm elections following Trump's decision to bail out the South American country's struggling economy.
According to BBC, Milei's La Libertad Avanza party on Sunday won 41% of the vote, helping it secure more than half of contested Senate seats and just under half of contested lower-house seats.
While speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump boasted of his administration's efforts to help Milei secure a victory that will help him push through his radical right-wing austerity agenda that had previously been kept in check by opposition parties, which had overturned his vetos on laws that aimed to increase funding for state universities, people with disabilities, and children's healthcare.
"He was a big victor, and he had a lot of help from us," Trump said, referring to Milei. "He had a lot of help. I gave him an endorsement, a very strong endorsement."
Trump: "In Argentina, I want to congratulate the victor. And he had a lot of help from us." pic.twitter.com/vG3pamNuEe
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 27, 2025
The Trump administration last month initiated a $20 billion bailout for Argentina intended to stabilize the country’s currency, which has seen its value plummet to dangerous lows over the last several months. In addition, Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have orchestrated another $20 billion bailout with private funds to support the nation’s beleaguered economy.
The bailouts have come as Trump has refused to use emergency funds to ensure that Americans who rely on food assistance can feed their families next month, as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is set to go unfunded due to the US government shutdown.
Trump emphasized that the bailout was entirely contingent on Milei's political success in the midterm elections, and that it would be rescinded if his party fared poorly.
"If he loses, we're not going to be generous with Argentina," Trump said earlier this month.
“If he loses, we will not be generous with Argentina.”
- Trump warns Argentina’s voters that U.S. financial backing, now at $20b and potentially rising to $40b, depends on Milei’s party’s performance in the upcoming midterm elections @atrupar pic.twitter.com/zpuiFuuYWi
— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) October 16, 2025
Milei's political future appeared much more tenuous just one month ago, when his party lost Buenos Aires provincial elections in what some political observers believed were an ill omen for this month's midterms. Milei had also been rocked corruption scandals, including an alleged bribery scheme involving his sister, Karina Milei.
Matt Stoller, researcher at the American Economic Liberties Project, directly linked Trump's coercion campaign to Milei's political success.
"It turns out that Argentine voters would prefer Trump give them dollars for free than have another financial crisis," he wrote on X. "Six weeks ago, Milei lost Buenos Aires by 14%. Today he won it. I wonder what changed."
Stoller rejected a Wall Street Journal analysis claiming Argentinian voters, who are struggling with high unemployment numbers and surging prices on essentials, embraced "a free-market revolution" by voting for Milei.
"The reason for a massive swing to Milei in six weeks was Trump's offer of free dollars vs. the prospect of economic collapse," he said. "Nothing to do with free markets. A blatant lie."
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Sanders Rips Trump for Finding '$40 Billion to Bail Out Argentina' While Cutting Off Food Aid in US
"How cruel is that?" asked US Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Oct 27, 2025
US Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday condemned President Donald Trump for pursuing a $40 billion bailout of Argentina while unlawfully declining to use contingency reserves to pay out federal food aid to Americans during the ongoing government shutdown.
"During the shutdown, Trump could find $40 billion to bail out Argentina and $300 million for a ballroom to host dinner parties with billionaires, but he won't tap emergency funds to prevent millions of American kids from going hungry?" Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote on social media. "How cruel is that?"
Sanders' message came as Argentine voters headed to the polls in national midterm elections that delivered a major victory to far-right President Javier Milei, whose party won roughly 40% of the vote against around 32% for the opposition party.
The result is expected to insulate Milei, a close ally of Trump, from legislative veto overrides and enable him to continue pursuing economic shock therapy, which has so far included sweeping attacks on pensioners, public health, and more.
The election win is also expected to secure Trump's continued support for a $40 billion bailout package—a combination of private-sector financing and a $20 billion currency swap—for Argentina, the International Monetary Fund's largest debtor. Ahead of Sunday's elections, Trump indicated that he would have pulled support for the bailout if Milei's party had performed badly.
"If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina," Trump said of Milei. "If he wins, we're staying with him. If he doesn't, we're gone."
Rohit Chopra, former director of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said in a statement Sunday that the Trump administration's bailout package for Argentina "was explicitly designed to influence the outcome of today's election" and urged Congress to act—which is unlikely, given Republican control.
"Congress should take a vote and block further bailout funds from flowing to Argentina," said Chopra. "The Trump administration should focus on reducing the cost of living for Americans, rather than pouring billions into Argentina."
"This is perhaps the most cruel and unlawful offense the Trump administration has perpetrated yet."
The Argentine election was held days after the Trump administration announced it would not use emergency funds to continue paying out Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits next month, imperiling food aid for more than 40 million Americans.
SNAP costs the federal government approximately $8 billion per month, a fraction of the $40 billion that the Trump administration has committed to Argentina.
Sharon Parrott, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, noted that the Trump administration is flouting the law by refusing to tap the emergency funds for nutrition assistance.
"The administration itself admits these reserves are available for use," said Parrott. "It could have, and should have, taken steps weeks ago to be ready to use these funds. Instead, it may choose not to use them in an effort to gain political advantage."
US Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said in a statement that "this is perhaps the most cruel and unlawful offense the Trump administration has perpetrated yet—freezing funding already enacted into law to feed hungry Americans while he shovels tens of billions of dollars out the door to Argentina and into his ballroom."
"The president, his agriculture secretary, and his budget director need to stop playing politics with Americans struggling to afford food and release the SNAP funds that Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate overwhelmingly voted to provide," they added.
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