“Chile wants change,” José Antonio Kast said on Sunday after being declared winner of Chile’s presidential election. “And I tell you, yes, Chile will experience real change.”

• Kast won 58 percent in the runoff election against leftist candidate Jeannette Jara and will replace incumbent Gabriel Boric on March 11. Under Boric, Chile has absorbed a large influx of Venezuelan migrants and with it a surge in violent crimes.
• Kast promises to secure the borders, make illegal entry a criminal offense, deport undocumented migrants, use the military to patrol neighborhoods with high crime rates, build new prisons, cut billions in government spending, and lower corporate taxes.

Kast’s victory reflects a surge in the political right across Latin America, including El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, Argentina’s Javier Milei, Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa and Bolivia’s Rodrigo Paz.

Kast himself is a son of an immigrant. His father came to South America after World War ii—from Germany, where he was a Nazi Party member and officer in Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht. In Chile, he founded a factory for meat and sausage products and began a new life, as did many other Nazis.

• Kast’s siblings have served as members of parliament and senators. One sibling served as president of the central bank during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. During the 2021 election campaign, Kast said, “If Pinochet were still alive, he would vote for me.”

Kast, a devout Catholic, is a father of nine.

Kast’s election may be just what the country needed to enter a closer cooperation with Catholic Europe. The October 1957 Plain Truth, predecessor to the Trumpet, stated, “Latin American nations will join in with the European revival of the old Roman Empire.” This forecast was based on Latin America’s religious and cultural ties with Europe and a prophesied siege of the U.S., in which Latin America will play a crucial role.