Chile Far‑Right Contender Backs Lethal Force, Vows to Send Criminal Migrants to El Salvador's Notorious CECOT

Johannes Kaiser, a 49‑year‑old far‑right contender in Chile's presidential race, defended the use of lethal force against attackers and said he would deport migrants with criminal records to El Salvador's infamous Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), he told AFP.

Speaking on his campaign bus about 200 kilometres (120 miles) north of Santiago, Kaiser framed his stance as protecting the human rights of "law‑abiding citizens" rather than worrying about "preventing the attacker from getting shot."

"Preventing someone from mugging you at night, stabbing you in the back, raping your wife in your own home, or sexually assaulting your daughter at school: those kinds of things are protecting human rights," he said.

Kaiser has tapped into rising public concern about crime and migration, narrowing the gap with front‑runners ahead of the November 16 first‑round vote: Jeannette Jara, who represents a broad centre‑left coalition, and fellow far‑right politician Jose Antonio Kast. A former YouTuber turned congressman, Kaiser is widely regarded as more extreme than Kast and has publicly attacked feminists, migrants and opponents of Augusto Pinochet.

Security claims, deportations and international ties

Kaiser said he would follow the example of US President Donald Trump by deporting "illegal foreigners with criminal records found in Chile" to El Salvador's CECOT, a mega‑prison where tens of thousands have been reported held, often without formal charges. The prison has been the focus of human‑rights concerns, and some detainees later alleged torture during months held there before being returned to Venezuela in a swap with the United States. El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele agreed earlier this year with the US administration to house hundreds of migrants at CECOT.

While Chile remains one of Latin America's relatively safer countries, authorities and analysts say its homicide rate and the number of kidnappings have risen in the past decade, and organized criminal groups from Venezuela, Peru and elsewhere have established a presence — a development that has shifted public sentiment and political debate to the right.

Policy platform and controversies

Kaiser's manifesto pairs hardline security proposals with ultraliberal economic ideas and conservative social policies. He has proposed shrinking the cabinet from 25 ministries to nine, which would include eliminating the ministries of education, women, and the environment. He also said he would consider releasing people jailed for human‑rights abuses under the Pinochet dictatorship, citing figures such as Miguel Krassnoff, a former intelligence officer convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

Pressed about the Pinochet era, Kaiser said he was "tired of the subject." He has also criticised climate policies — saying he would follow the Trump administration in leaving the Paris Agreement — and has been widely criticised for prior inflammatory remarks, including a YouTube comment in which he said rapists of "a group of particularly ugly women" deserved "a medal of honor," a remark he later called ironic.

In 2024 Kaiser left the Republican Party and founded the National Libertarian Party in an effort to outflank Kast. His combination of outspoken rhetoric on crime and immigration, radical policy proposals and social conservatism has made him a polarising figure in a campaign where debates over women's rights, climate change and inequality have been less prominent than in previous cycles.

Context: The claims and plans Kaiser described involve international cooperation and facilities that human‑rights groups and some governments have criticised; some details about detainees' treatment at CECOT remain contested and are subject to investigation and differing accounts.