Marrakech – Morocco’s House of Representatives Speaker Rachid Talbi El Alami represented King Mohammed VI on Wednesday at the inauguration of José Antonio Kast as Chile’s new president, in a ceremony held at the Chilean Congress in the coastal city of Valparaiso.
Talbi El Alami was accompanied by Morocco’s Ambassador to Chile, Kenza El Ghali. King Mohammed VI had previously sent Kast a congratulatory message wishing him success in leading Chile toward progress and prosperity.
The ceremony brought together several regional heads of state, including Argentina’s Javier Milei, Bolivia’s Rodrigo Paz, Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa, and Paraguay’s Santiago Pena. Spain’s King Felipe VI also attended, alongside a US delegation led by Undersecretary of State Christopher Landau.
Kast, 60, becomes the most right-wing president Chile has seen since the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, which lasted from 1973 to 1990. He won December’s presidential runoff with 58% of the vote, running on a platform centered on cracking down on crime and illegal immigration.
His election is seen as part of a broader conservative shift across Latin America following Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Kast had attended Trump’s Shield of the Americas security summit in Florida just days before his inauguration.
Despite the strong mandate, analysts warn that his presidency faces immediate challenges. The country’s deep-rooted problems have no quick fixes, and managing public expectations may prove to be Kast’s first test in office.
His cabinet appointments have already drawn criticism. Two former lawyers who defended Pinochet and an anti-abortion activist named to head the Ministry of Women were among the nominees that drew sharp condemnation from the opposition.
Although his campaign focused almost entirely on security, Kast has a long record of supporting Pinochet’s regime, opposing abortion and the morning-after pill, and promoting traditional family values. He founded the Republican Party in 2019 based on principles of market economy, opposition to abortion, and family values.
The transition itself was marked by tension. Kast declared the handover process closed last week, accusing outgoing President Gabriel Boric of concealing information about a submarine fiber optic cable project linking Chile to China, which the United States had criticized on security grounds.