Fuel crisis and protests pressure Chile's far-right president

A masked demonstrator prepares to throw a Molotov cocktail as police use a water cannon to disperse students protesting education policies, rising living costs and reduced sentences for people convicted of sexual offenses against minors in Santiago, Chile, Nov. 5, 2026. Esteban Felix/AP hide caption

SANTIAGO, Chile — Chile's ultraconservative president finds himself on the back foot after just eight months in power.

José Antonio Kast, a politician who spent a career railing against progressive issues, reproductive rights and welfare policies from the extreme fringes of right-wing politics, now finds himself with just 24% approval in the polls.

It is less than a year since Kast stormed to the presidency in December 2025 by avoiding all mention of his hardline stances on social matters, focusing instead on two hot-button issues whipped up in the national media: illegal immigration and public security.

But rather than pressing ahead with those at the top of his agenda, he has floundered. And as elsewhere around the Americas and worldwide, rising costs of living have come to hit him hard.

"Our salaries are maybe 20% of a European income, but with a similar cost of living – it's terrible," said Simón Echavarría, a 30-year-old architect, at a march in Santiago on Friday evening.

"We want to protest against the measures that have set us back on environmental issues, on human rights, even reducing the sentences of pedophiles – they are implementing things that nobody asked for," he said.

Behind him, heavily armed police blocked the streets and fired water cannons at protesters chanting and waving flags in the square.

Much of the recent ire stems from the revelation last month that Kast's government had signed decrees to cut the sentences of 56 prisoners whose crimes range from the rape of children to dictatorship-era human rights violations.

Kast has since admitted that this was an "error", but came out in support of the undersecretary who signed the decrees nonetheless.

But beneath the more egregious moves Kast has made in his first year in power is simmering discontent over affordability.

In July, Kast's government chose not to apply an anti-inflation tool available to the Chilean state to ease the rise in fuel prices brought about by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

Protests exploded as prices shot up overnight and motorists joined long queues at gas stations to fill their tanks before the rise came into effect.

Trucks are parked along a road as drivers protest rising fuel prices and operating costs on the outskirts of Santiago, Chile, Nov. 12, 2026. Esteban Felix/AP hide caption

This week, Chile's formidable truckers' unions blockaded two major highways in an effort to exert pressure on the government and address high fuel prices.

On Friday, the strike was broken after the government backed down, sending a bill to Chile's congress which will reverse planned fuel price rises.

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 are facing challenges similar to those confronting the U.S. administration, as rising fuel prices and the cost of everyday goods fuel public discontent.

In Argentina, far-right libertarian Javier Milei faces reelection in less than a year, with 60% of the country disapproving of his leadership amid spiraling inflation. In Peru, President Keiko Fujimori is also facing growing discontent, with 53% disapproving of her government, according to a recent Ipsos poll.

At the march in Santiago on Friday, 30-year-old veterinarian Patricia Pereira said that she was concerned about cuts to science funding, but that her discontent ran deeper.

"Here in Chile, it was a hard-won victory for children to have free education, achieved through protests, and now even that's also being called into question," she said.

Protests are likely to grow in Santiago if the government fails to address the rising cost of living. President Kast has shown little sign of doing so.

To the contrary, his budget proposal is making its way through Congress, with the government seeking cuts to education, culture, science and a host of social programs.

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