Chilean election offers stark choice: a leftist or an admirer of Pinochet
The campaign has resurfaced deep divisions and revived bitter memories of the country’s recent past
In the left corner, we have Gabriel Boric, a millenial former student protest leader from the frozen south. Boric is running on a platform of taxing and spending on social services more, and empowering women and indigenous people.
In the right corner, we have José Antonio Kast, who is notable for campaigning against the return of democracy in the 1980s, his desire to pardon everyone involved with the Pinochet regime, his climate change denial, homophobia and being the son of an actual, genuine Nazi. Kast was born into great wealth, is running on a platform of digging a massive ditch along the Bolivian border to stop immigrants and wants to "make Chile a great country". Sound familiar?
It's a real worry if Kast gets elected, not just because he has fascist sympathies, but because this country had widespread riots in 2019-2020 over inequality and the cost of living. Kast getting elected will probably send the rioters back onto the streets.
