Kast's Cabinet

CHILE - In Brief 22 Jan 2026 by Robert Funk

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On Wednesday José Antonio Kast has presented his first cabinet. Clearly it is a team designed not so much with politics in mind, but aimed at meeting the short-term policy objectives that the president-elect has announced. Even though the ideological shift will be evident, the question is whether the incoming administration will be able to manage the mechanics of government given the restrictions placed by the economic context and a fragmented Congress. The political heart of the government is clearly installed in the Ministries of Interior and in the General Secretariat of the Presidency (Segpres). Claudio Alvarado and José García Ruminot are two longstanding politicians with experience in Congress and party politics. Their job will be to execute, negotiate and maintain order: not such an easy task if one takes into account the broad, uncomfortable coalition that is taking office, the fragmented Congress, and an electorate with high expectations for security and economic growth. Indeed, judging from the tone being set by the media, the risk for the government is not so much a lack of leadership, but rather an excess of expectations: the promise of results within 90 days will come up against an slow-moving institutional system. Incoming Finance Minister Jorge Quiroz may be facing the most pressure in this regard. His diagnosis is well known and widely shared: Chile has lost a decade to stagnation, regulatory excess and fiscal deterioration. His proposed solution - fiscal adjustment with the simultaneous promise of reactivation – attracts less consensus. Needless to say that any serious attempt at deregulation, tax cuts or spending containment will inevitably clash with...