BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The Chilean government transferred nearly 300 high-risk inmates to a sprawling new prison on Thursday, as hard-line President José Antonio Kast seeks to regain momentum on his core campaign pledge to combat organized crime. Kast traveled to the recently opened La Laguna Prison, among Chile’s biggest, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Chile’s capital of Santiago, to oversee the transfer, which his government described as an effort to ease overcrowding in prisons and prevent incarcerated gang leaders from remotely running their criminal enterprises behind bars. Footage released by the government showed inmates packed into rows with bowed heads and shackled feet, recalling images from El Salvador, where President Nayib Bukele has made a point of broadcasting his security crackdown on social media. The mass incarceration campaign has sharply reduced violence but drawn allegations from human rights groups of arbitrary detention, abuse and the erosion of civil liberties.
Chile’s president invokes Bukele as modelLike other right-wing presidential contenders across Latin America, most recently in Colombia and Peru, Kast has invoked Bukele as a model for his own promises to fight organized crime. While campaigning last year, Kast visited El Salvador to study Bukele’s security policies and tour the country’s notorious mega-prison where visitation, recreation and education are not allowed.
