José Antonio Kast, the conservative president-elect of Chile, told reporters on Tuesday that he would support “any situation that ends a dictatorship,” referring to a potential American military operation to oust Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Kast, who won his country’s presidency in a historic landslide against Communist Party candidate Jeannette Jara on Sunday made the remarks during a press availability in Buenos Aires where he traveled to meet with fellow right-wing Argentine President Javier Milei. Milei and Kast have supported each other for years, long before each won their respective elections. Given the physical proximity of the two countries, Kast made Argentina his first international stop following his victory.
The president-elect’s support for ousting the Maduro regime, an illegitimate socialist narco-state that has maintained itself in power for over two decades through violent oppression and alliances with terrorists, follows Maduro himself lamenting Kast’s win in Chile and threatening the country in the event that Kast follows through with his campaign promise to restrict immigration. Chile, a country of an estimated 20 million people, has experienced a population boom following the collapse of the Venezuelan economy. According to the United Nations, nearly 8 million Venezuelans have been forced to flee socialism, most staying elsewhere in South America, including Chile.
Asked about military interventions against Venezuela in the context of President Donald Trump’s actions to enforce sanctions on the country, Kast expressed support.
“Clearly we cannot intervene in that because we are a small country,” Kast observed, “but if someone is going to do it, have it be clear to them that they would solve for us and for all of Latin America, for all of South America, a giant problem.”
Kast added that he would support “any situation that would end a dictatorship” and suggested that the other presidents in South American agree: “They all are fully conscious that the situation being lived through in Venezuela is unacceptable.”
The Chilean president-elect was asked about potential military action in Venezuela due to the Trump administration prioritizing Venezuela as a major national security risk. Located just across the Caribbean Sea, Venezuela under the Maduro regime has become a drug trafficking giant thanks to the efforts of the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns) being run by the Venezuelan military. Maduro has also pursued close diplomatic relationships with some of America’s most dangerous geopolitical enemies, including Russia, China, and Iran.
The Pentagon is currently engaged in “Operation Southern Spear,” an initiative targeting drug-trafficking maritime vessels for destruction. The Trump administration branded the Cartel de los Soles a terrorist organization in November and listed the Maduro regime itself as a foreign terrorist organization on Tuesday.
“For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” President Trump announced on his website Truth Social on Tuesday night. “Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”
Kast’s victory in Sunday’s election — his third attempt to win the presidency — was decisive. Kast defeated Jara in every Chilean state, garnering nearly 60 percent of the vote nationwide. His political career has been defined by taking solidly conservative positions on a variety of issues, including opposing abortion and euthanasia, calling for regulated immigration, and empowering the police to combat the growing violent crime crisis in the country.
Kast will succeed the candidate who defeated him in the 2021 presidential election, incumbent leftist Gabriel Boric. While ideologically aligned with Maduro, Boric consistently condemned Venezuela’s atrocious human rights records throughout his presidency, including at leftist events where the Maduro regime was represented.
“It really pisses me off when you are from the left, so you condemn the violation of human rights in, I don’t know, Yemen or El Salvador, but you cannot talk about Venezuela or Nicaragua,” Boric said during a talk in New York in 2022. “Or Chile! In Chile, we had several human rights violations in the social unrest. You don’t have to have a double standard.”
In one of his final acts as president, Boric accused the Maduro regime of assassinating Ronald Ojeda, a Venezuelan dissident who had taken refuge in Chile, and hiding his body in a concrete structure in Santiago.
The Maduro regime responded with a barrage of insults against the current Chilean president, branding him the leader of the “cowardly left,” a “moron,” an “impertinent drunkard,” and, in one particularly absurd broadcast, declaring him America’s “employee of the month” for standing up for human rights.
Venezuelan socialists have indicated that they will increase their attacks on Chile when Kast takes over the government. In a broadcast on Monday, Maduro personally insulted Kast as a “Nazi” and “Pinochet supporter,” taking swipes at Boric but warning that Kast will be worse for the Venezuelan regime.
“Boric waited for him without a tie, and this gentleman [Kast] came in with a suit and tie. And I said, ‘The only thing that changes is that one doesn’t have a tie and the other one does,’ because in the end, the so-called progressive Boric, who wasn’t a progressive at all, ended up governing, putting the target on the left and always embracing the right,” Maduro claimed.
“Now the people of Chile have a great challenge… because they will have a Nazi, Pinochetist president,” Maduro claimed. “I will tell that gentleman, you may be a follower of Adolf Hitler and educated in the values of Hitler… but be careful that you don’t touch a hair on the head of a Venezuelan. You respect Venezuelans. Be very careful.”