MIAMI - President-Elect José Antonio Kast of Chile has expressed his support for "any situation that ends the dictatorship" of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The statements from the newly elected Kast came during a visit to Buenos Aires on Tuesday to meet with Argentine President and fellow-Right-wing populist, Javier Milei, two days after Kast's landmark election win over Communist Party candidate Jeannette Jara, overturning decades of Left-wing government in Chile, since the end of the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in 1990.
The visit to Buenos Aires marks the first unofficial visit of the newly elected Chilean president and is focused on re-establishing a new "roadmap' for mutual cooperation set to begin in March 2026, when Kast assumes office.
Milei has announced that he will be present for President-Elect Kast's inauguration in Santiago.
Both leaders of the Southern Cone nations have agreed to enhance cooperation on issues that include stronger border protection, combating transnational organized crime, and building on new initiatives to promote cross-border investment and economic trade.
Kast also campaigned on stronger border protection and to crack down on the flow of Venezuelan migrants relocating to Chile, and also vowing to deport 300,000 mostly Venezuelan migrants back to their homelands.
Kast also expressed his support for actions that would effectively "end the dictatorship" of the Maduro regime in Caracas, adding, "If someone is going to do it, let's be clear that it solves a gigantic problem for us and all of Latin America, all of South America, and even for countries in Europe."
The remarks from the Chilean President-Elect will certainly be welcomed by officials in Washington, who are gradually easing into the idea of pushing for a more aggressive stance on the Maduro regime, and possibly dislocating his position from power in Caracas.
President Trump has said repeatedly over the last two weeks that ground operations will soon begin on the Venezuelan mainland, as the Pentagon continues to carry out targeted strikes on suspected drug vessels in the South Caribbean, killing more than 80 people.
"It is not our responsibility to solve it (the Venezuelan crisis), but whoever does will have our support," Kast remarked before reporters in the Argentine capital.
