Marrakech – Chile’s newly inaugurated far-right President José Antonio Kast received Moroccan Parliament Speaker Rachid Talbi El Alami in Santiago on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the official inauguration ceremony.
Talbi El Alami was representing King Mohammed VI at the swearing-in. Chile’s new foreign minister, Francisco Pérez Mackenna, and Morocco’s ambassador to Santiago, Kenza El Ghali, also attended the audience.
In a statement to Morocco’s state news agency MAP, Talbi El Alami said the meeting was an opportunity to convey the monarch’s greetings and congratulations to Kast on his inauguration. He also affirmed Morocco’s willingness to work alongside Chile to strengthen bilateral ties and expand cooperation across various sectors in the interest of both peoples.
King Mohammed VI had previously sent Kast a congratulatory message wishing him success in leading Chile toward greater progress and prosperity.
Kast, 60, was sworn in at the National Congress in the coastal city of Valparaíso in a ceremony attended by dozens of heads of state, including Argentina’s President Javier Milei, Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, Spain’s King Felipe VI, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado. The United States also sent Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.
Kast won December’s presidential runoff with over 58% of the vote, defeating government-backed leftist candidate Jeannette Jara. His victory marks Chile’s most pronounced shift to the right since the return of democracy in 1990.
He campaigned on a hardline platform centered on combating organized crime and curbing illegal immigration. Kast has praised El Salvador’s prison-based crime-fighting model and pledged to militarize Chile’s borders.
Kast has also been a longtime defender of the legacy of dictator General Augusto Pinochet, whose 1973 coup ousted Chile’s democratically elected government. Pinochet’s 17-year rule resulted in over 3,000 deaths and the imprisonment and torture of thousands more.
Kast campaigned in 1988 to keep Pinochet in power and has previously stated the former dictator would have voted for him.
Two former lawyers who represented Pinochet have been named to his cabinet – Fernando Barros as defense minister and Fernando Rabat as minister of justice and human rights.
Kast succeeds leftist Gabriel Boric, who left office as Chile’s lowest-rated president since the return of democracy, according to polling firm Cadem.