José Antonio Kast opens his second year with 20-plus named projects and an unemployment print at a five-year high; Bolivia’s COB ratifies the blockades and walks from the table on day 32; Espriella consolidates the right ahead of the June 21 runoff.
Argentina’s MERVAL takes a fifth record as reserves top US$48.5 billion; Lula’s approval sinks below disapproval; Sheinbaum holds the sovereignty line into round one of the trade talks.
Chile — The Year-Two Ledger
President José Antonio Kast delivered a security-dominated Cuenta Pública in Valparaíso on Monday, naming more than twenty programmes: seven task forces under a new Public Security Ministry merging Interior and the government secretariat, 20,000 prison places, a Plan Retorno for irregular migrants, a 30,000-peso per-child stipend and Operación Sitio 2.0 on state land.
He cited 378 homicides January–May against 444 a year earlier, a 14.9% fall, and May investment approvals at an eleven-year high of US$13.9 billion. Yet the INE put unemployment at 9.1% for February–April, a five-year peak, and the IPSA shed 1.50% to 10,626.
