A masked protester prepares to throw a Molotov cocktail as police use a water cannon to disperse students protesting against education policies, rising costs of living and reduced sentences for those convicted of sexual offenses against minors in Santiago, Chile, November 5, 2026.
Esteban Félix/AP
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Esteban Félix/AP
SANTIAGO, Chile — Chile’s ultraconservative president finds himself in retreat after just eight months in power.
José Antonio Kast, a politician who has spent his career railing against progressive issues, reproductive rights and social policies on the far right, now finds himself with just 24 percent approval in the polls.
It’s been less than a year since Kast assumed the presidency in December 2025 by avoiding any mention of his hardline stances on social issues, instead focusing on two hot-button issues discussed in the national media: illegal immigration and public safety.
But rather than move forward with those at the top of his agenda, he floundered. And like everywhere else in America and the world, the rising cost of living is hitting it hard.
“Our salaries are maybe 20% of European income, but with a similar cost of living, it’s terrible,” Simón Echavarría, a 30-year-old architect, said during a march in Santiago on Friday evening.
“We want to protest against the measures that have taken us backwards on environmental issues, on human rights, even going so far as to reduce the sentences of pedophiles – they are implementing things that no one asked for,” he said.
Behind him, heavily armed police blocked streets and fired water cannons at chanting and flag-waving demonstrators in the square.
Much of the recent anger comes from the revelation last month that Kast’s government had signed decrees to reduce the sentences of 56 prisoners whose crimes range from child rape to human rights abuses committed during the dictatorship era.
Kast has since acknowledged that it was a “mistake,” but he nonetheless came out in favor of the undersecretary who signed the executive orders.
But behind Kast’s most egregious steps in his first year in office lies a dissatisfaction with affordability.
In July, Kast’s government chose not to apply the anti-inflationary tool available to the Chilean state to mitigate rising fuel prices caused by the US-Israeli war against Iran.
The protests erupted when prices soared overnight and motorists joined long queues at gas stations to fill up before the hike took effect.
Trucks are parked along a road as drivers protest against rising fuel prices and operating costs on the outskirts of Santiago, Chile, November 12, 2026.
Esteban Félix/AP
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Esteban Félix/AP
This week, Chile’s formidable trucking unions blocked two major highways in an effort to put pressure on the government and fight high fuel prices.
On Friday, the strike was called off after the government reversed course, sending Chile’s congress a bill that would reverse a planned fuel price hike.
It is expected to be approved this month, but public anger continues to grow over the cost of living.
Politicians across the Americas who have enthusiastically aligned themselves with President Donald Trump face challenges similar to those facing the U.S. administration, as rising fuel prices and the cost of everyday consumer goods fuel public discontent.
In Argentina, far-right libertarian Javier Milei risks being re-elected in less than a year, while 60% of the country disapproves of his leadership in a context of galloping inflation. In Peru, President Keiko Fujimori is also facing growing discontent, with 53% of people disapproving of her government, according to a recent Ipsos poll.
At the march in Santiago on Friday, veterinarian Patricia Pereira, 30, said she was concerned about cuts to science funding, but her discontent ran deeper.
“Here in Chile, access to free education was a hard-won victory for children, achieved through protests, and now even that is also being called into question,” she said.
Protests are likely to intensify in Santiago if the government fails to address the rising cost of living. President Kast has shown few signs of this.
Instead, his budget proposal is making its way through Congress as the government seeks to cut education, culture, science and a host of social programs.
Gn world
