Key Points
—Chile’s President José Antonio Kast told the Renovación Nacional party conclave on April 25 that the outgoing Boric government had been “a disaster” on employment, growth, education, health, and security.
—The Kast Boric clash has escalated since a leaked Dipres document recommended discontinuing or cutting 142 programmes across 22 ministries, with combined annual costs of 5.4 trillion Chilean pesos ($5.4 billion).
—Boric has filed a Congress permit request to travel to Berlin, Wales, and London from May 16 to June 3, including the Berlin Forum on Global Cooperation, the Hay Festival in Wales, and a session at the British Library.
Fifty days after handover, Chile’s transition has not closed. The new president is still litigating the old government — and the old government is still answering back.
The Kast Boric clash escalated this week when Chile’s new president told the Renovación Nacional party conclave on April 25 that the prior government had failed across every metric. The Rio Times, the Latin American financial news outlet, reports that the speech marked Kast’s most direct attack since taking office on March 11, with the president telling allies “when one looks at what they left us, there is no figure where they can say they did it well.”
The reaction from the opposition was sharp. Boric defenders accused the president of returning to campaign-mode rhetoric instead of governing, while Kast’s allies described the criticism as a necessary correction to what they call a deliberately distorted handover.
What Triggered the Kast Boric Clash
A leaked Dipres document recommended discontinuing or cutting 142 programmes across 22 ministries. The programmes have a combined annual cost of around 5.4 trillion Chilean pesos, equal to roughly 5.4 billion US dollars at prevailing rates.
The proposed cuts touch sensitive areas including Social Development, Health, and Education. The opposition has accused Kast of reneging on his campaign pledge not to touch social benefits, with the Frente Amplio bloc warning Chile Vamos against silence on what it calls a regression in social rights.
The Bachelet Front in the Kast Boric Clash
In late March, Kast pulled Chile‘s support from former president Michelle Bachelet’s candidacy for UN Secretary-General, the position currently held by António Guterres until December 31, 2026. The withdrawal, announced by the Cancillería on March 24, called the candidacy “inviable” given the dispersion of Latin American candidates.
Bachelet, who served as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022, is keeping her candidacy alive with the support of Brazil and Mexico. The opposition has called the move a “bochorno internacional,” and a Cancillería sumario is now investigating whether Chilean diplomats continued promoting her candidacy after the official withdrawal.
Boric’s Travel Plans and the Kast Boric Clash
Boric has filed a permit request with the Cámara de Diputados to leave Chile from May 16 to June 3, citing the Berlin Forum on Global Cooperation, the Hay Festival in Wales, and a session at the British Library. The trip will keep Boric in the international spotlight at a moment when Kast’s domestic agenda is being tested by audit revelations.
For investors tracking Chile’s fiscal trajectory and copper revenue, the Dipres cuts deliver a structural change to Chile’s spending profile. The political question is whether Kast can hold the spending discipline through 2026, with regional growth uncertainty still elevated.