José Antonio Kast, 59, is appealing to voters with a hard-right pitch on crime and immigration
E
ven before José Antonio Kast popped into his high-altitude restaurant for a plate of alpaca ribs, Carlos Valdebenito Pacheco was set on voting for the ultra-conservative favourite to become the next president of Chile.
“Without a doubt – 100%,” enthused the 55-year-old waiter from Visviri, an isolated Andean outpost more than 4,000 metres above sea level on Chile’s triple border with Bolivia and Peru.
A few days earlier, Kast and his entourage had driven for hours along treacherous mountain roads to reach the volcano-flanked farming community – population 120 – in their country’s northernmost tip.
