The Year of the Right is looming in Latin America
Elections in Costa Rica, Peru, Colombia and, above all, Brazil could amplify the trend set in 2025.
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Chile’s President-elect Jose Antonio Kast (right) and Argentina's President Javier Milei, a fellow right-winger, with a chainsaw – a symbol of Mr Milei’s anti-public spending campaign – during their meeting in Buenos Aires on Dec 16, 2025.
PHOTO: AFP
J.P. Spinetto
Mr Jose Antonio Kast wasted no time. Less than 36 hours after being elected Chile’s next president, the conservative leader boarded a plane, crossed the Andes and paid a visit to his ideological ally, Argentina’s libertarian standard-bearer Javier Milei.
As political images go, it was powerful: Right-wing ideals have become the binding glue between two leaders who could hardly be more different in style, temperament and life choices.
