Chile's new president has begun work on a border barrier just five days after being sworn into office.
José Antonio Kast appeared at the site along Chile's northern border with Peru on Monday to inspect the trench and chat to construction workers, hailing it as the first step towards meeting his campaign promise to stem illegal immigration.
Only a small portion of the planned barrier has so far been cut into the arid Atacama desert - a ditch a few feet wide and deep.
It is one of several policies of Kast's that echo pledges by US President Donald Trump - who has made constructing a wall at the Mexican border a common refrain at rallies and a crucial part of his own immigration policy.
Echoing his rhetoric on the campaign trail, Kast said Chile had been "violated by illegal immigration, drug trafficking and organised crime", adding that he wanted to used the diggers behind him to "build a sovereign Chile".
