Today we feature the “Duo Pajarito” from Chile with the Chabuca Granda song “Street Carnaval” released in 2023.

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Many of us reject animal cruelty disguised as sport, and we do not accept that public authorities legitimize practices as abhorrent as rodeo.

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Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has canceled a planned trip to Chile to attend José Antonio Kast’s inauguration on Wednesday and will instead be represented at the ceremony by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira. Brazilian officials said the change was due to “scheduling reasons.”

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado greeted Thursday 17,000 Venezuelans in the streets of Santiago, Chile. 

“Santiago is overflowing with us, my Venezuelans!,” she told the crowd as they shouted “Maria Presidente,” spilling out from downtown Parque Almagro in a sea of Venezuelan flags.

Earlier, hundreds of well wishers had gathered in Plaza de Armas to welcome Machado as she was awarded the keys to the city by the Santiago mayor. There, she hugged and took selfies with well-wishers. Later, in the march, she embraced members of the crowd, inviting two children to join her on the stage and wave to the thousands lining the streets. 

The march, which the police had planned to be attended by 4,000, was the largest public demonstration attended by Machado since she left Venezuela in December. After leaving the event, Machado said it was “indescribable” on social media. 

“Today our clear path is to move forward so that all those who have been forced to leave their country can travel back to reunite with their families with their heads held high,” Machado said. 

Chile is home to the fourth largest Venezuelan diaspora in Latin America with almost 700,000 Venezuelan nationals living there, 42% of the foreign-born Chilean population. Of the illegal migrants living in Chile, 75% are Venezuelan, according to figures from the Liberty and Development think tank. 

Exploiting these figures was central to new President José Antonio Kast’s successful presidential campaign. He promised to expel thousands of illegal migrants living in Chile. In his inaugural address Wednesday, he said he had already ordered the military to build a physical barrier along the border with Bolivia, a regular crossing for migrants arriving on foot. 

In his first day in office, Kast launched the Shield Frontier Plan, a strategy for erecting walls five meters in height equipped with motion sensors, facial recognition and infrared cameras. The plan also includes funding for surveillance drones along Chile’s northern borders.

As violent and petty crime has risen in recent years, the Centre for Public Studies says seven in ten Chileans “strongly agree” that illegal immigration is driving insecurity. 

Kast, his followers and other members of his party have, in their discourse against migration, publicly targeted the Venezuelan diaspora. In January, Kast singled out Venezuelans on Canal 5 Noticias, saying illegal Venezuelans’ “days were numbered” as he promised an unprecedented ramp up of deportation orders. After his election victory, he repeatedly called on Venezuelans to remove themselves from Chile before he took power. 

Machado, who was in Chile for Kast’s inauguration, said in a statement that the Venezuelans living in Chile were “decent people.”

“What we are doing here today is asking all Chileans — and all Latin Americans — to help us ensure that every Venezuelan can return with dignity and freedom to the country they adore,” she added.

Read more: José Antonio Kast becomes Chile’s first hard-right president since dictatorship  

Striking a similar tone to Kast, U.S. President Donald Trump has vilified Venezuelan’s living in the U.S., tying them to the international criminal organization, one the U.S. labels terrorist, the Tren de Aragua. Since taking office, Trump has said Venezuelans linked to the gang were “invading” the U.S.

Machado, who gifted her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump in January following the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro, said in a video address Thursday that Trump remained a “fundamental ally” to Venezuela.

Trump had earlier questioned Machado’s suitability to lead, citing (misleading) low approval ratings. Trump has also praised Venezuela’s interim president and Maduro’s former vice president, who is widely disliked by Venezuelans.

As tension between the Venezuelan diaspora and the new hardline government bubble in Chile, Machado tread a fine line, telling reporters that she had not yet discussed with Kast how Chile can support Venezuelan’s who have fled the country.

Featured Image: Thousands gather in the streets of Santiago, Chile with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado

Image credit: Maria Corina Machado via X

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Medellín, Colombia – José Antonio Kast was sworn in today as the new president of Chile, inaugurating the country’s first far-right government since the fall of Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship in 1990.

Kast beat Jeanette Jara from the Communist Party last December, winning 58% in second-round polls following a campaign focused on law and order and tackling illegal immigration through mass deportations.

He succeeds left-wing president Gabriel Boric, forming part of a broader right-wing wave across the Americas. 

Chile’s new president resembles U.S President Donald Trump in his approach to certain policy matters, such as his promises to curb illegal immigration, increase mass deportations and even build border walls.

Kast is a controversial figure: his father was a member of the Nazi party, and he was raised deeply conservative. 

While studying law at the Universidad Católica, he was mentored by Jaime Guzmán, who was a trusted advisor of Pinochet.

Kast is now the first president to defend the legacy of Pinochet, and he has suggested that the dictator would have supported his candidacy. He has also appointed two ex-Pinochet lawyers, Fernando Barros and Fernando Rabat, to his cabinet as Minister of Defence and Minister of Justice and Human Rights, respectively. This move has drawn criticism from human rights groups.

Kast previously failed in a 2022 bid for the presidency, losing to Boric. Boric, however, was a deeply unpopular president, with polling from July 2025 highlighting a 66% disapproval rating.

Kast recently withdrew from transition talks with his predecessor, claiming that he had not been informed about the construction of an underwater sea cable connecting Chile and China. The spat raised concerns regarding democratic transfer of power.

Kast is part of a growing right-wing coalition across the Americas, supported by Trump, who has announced a return of the Monroe Doctrine, which maintains Washington’s dominance across the Western Hemisphere.

Before assuming office, Kast attended Trump’s “Shield of the Americas” summit on Saturday alongside other Latin American leaders, signalling his eagerness to cooperate with Washington in its invigorated counter-narcotics strategy. 

His swearing-in ceremony, held in the coastal city of Valparaíso, was attended by many prominent political figures from the Americas, including conservative leaders like Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa and Argentina’s Javier Milei.

The left-wing president of Brazil, Lula Inácio da Silva, canceled at the last minute after finding out that his potential rival in the next elections, Flávio Bolsonaro – the son of jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro – would be attending. 

Venezuelan opposition figure, María Corina Machado, also attended the inauguration, posting on X that she was excited to meet with Venezuelans in Chile during her visit.

Kast has singled out Venezuelan immigrants, having centered his campaign on fighting irregular migration through mass deportation with his “Border Shield” plan; it references “hundreds of thousands of illegals, bringing with them crime, narcotrafficking, human trafficking and gun smuggling, and labor exploitation”. Migrants represent almost 10% of the population in Chile, the largest group being Venezuelans – 17% of which entered irregularly, according to El País. Despite this, figures shared by the Minister of Defense, Adriano Delpiano, indicate that the number of irregular entries to Chile decreased by 54% between 2021 and 2025.

Despite Kast’s promises to restore public order amid rising crime, Chile remains one of the safest countries in Latin America.

Featured image description: José Antonio Kast in European Parliament

Featured image credit: @joseantoniokast via X.

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