Chile’s new president, Jose Antonio Kast, signed decrees to ramp up border security, audit spending and cut red tape before delivering a tightly scripted inaugural speech on Wednesday night, underscoring his priorities at the helm of Latin America’s most prosperous nation.
“We have been given a country that’s in worse shape than we could have imagined,” the archconservative said after his swearing in earlier in the day in the coastal city of Valparaiso. “We have the opportunity to start a new era for Chile, an era of order, freedom and justice.”
After breaking with tradition by issuing a half dozen decrees ahead of his speech, Kast emerged onto the balcony of the presidential palace in downtown Santiago, reiterating plans for an “emergency government” focused on fighting crime and irregular migration while reviving the economy.
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