José Antonio Kast Strengthens Alignment with Trump: Confirms Participation in Shield of the Americas Amid Warnings of U.S. Subordination

Original article: Kast profundiza alineamiento con Trump: confirma participación en Escudo de las Américas en medio de advertencias por subordinación a EE.UU.

José Antonio Kast deepens his alignment with Donald Trump by confirming his participation in the Shield of the Americas meeting called by the U.S. President, amid warnings regarding his administration’s recent subordination to Washington.

During his tour in New York and participation in the 81st United Nations General Assembly, the President stated to the press that he would attend two events to which he was invited by Trump: the Shield of the Americas summit, a military and security coordination forum proposed by the Republican tycoon, which Chile has yet to formally join; as well as a reception dinner.

“These are two distinct situations. One is a reception hosted by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, for various delegations, where I hope to attend as President in response to the invitation extended to different delegations. The other is a meeting we have been invited to for the Shield of the Americas, which I will also attend,” Kast stated, as reported by El Mostrador.

The potential inclusion of Chile in the initiative proposed by Trump, which gathers a dozen of right-leaning governments from Latin America and includes intelligence sharing, joint training, and support for maritime interception operations, has sparked criticism and warnings from various sectors regarding the abandonment of Chile’s historical autonomy in foreign policy and the risk of ceding sovereignty in security and defense matters.

“I believe that the signals given by Chile, the government of President Kast, concerning foreign policy are quite concerning. Chile has placed itself at the service of, showing a rather shameful subordination to the government, to the Trump administration, which has been expressed in multiple dimensions,” warned Deputy Luis Cuello (PC).

The parliamentarian condemned that under the auspices of the Shield of the Americas, attacks on boats in the Caribbean are promoted, “where people have been killed, not knowing if they were guilty or not, whether they had a trial or not.”

In light of these criticisms, the Minister of Public Security, Martín Arrau, mentioned from La Moneda that they would define an official stance in the coming days.

In his statements to the press, Kast addressed the concerns regarding the Shield of the Americas and emphasized that “we have always stated that every country has its own legislation and its sovereignty.”

“This does not interfere with the sovereignty of countries, but aims at cross-coordination among different nations to tackle this new scourge for which many of our countries were unprepared,” he remarked.

Additionally, he confirmed the meeting called by Trump, which was initially scheduled for yesterday but postponed to coordinate the agendas of the 15 invited presidents.

“Therefore, we will hold the Shield of the Americas meeting, aligning it with the schedules of the various presidents, and we will make all the necessary comments, always in the context of combatting drug trafficking, organized crime, and narcoterrorism,” he indicated.

Alignment with Trump

Since the arrival of José Antonio Kast to the presidency of Chile last March, the foreign policy of our country has shown an alignment with the interests of the Trump administration.

The National Defense Strategy promoted by the occupant of the White House has treated Latin America as its «backyard», involving electoral interventions, fraud, and military threats in various countries, and Chile has not been excluded, as the United States demanded the cancellation of the underwater fiber optic cable project that would connect China to our country, which was ultimately buried by Kast.

Trump imposed a 10% tariff on both friends and adversaries alike, including Chile, and then implemented a 12.5% tariff on Chilean exports such as fruits, vegetables, and salmon, causing losses exceeding 200 million dollars, under the pretext that Santiago was not preventing forced labor. Although Foreign Minister Francisco Pérez boasted of having been received for 45 minutes by Marco Rubio, it did not prevent this measure, and when Ministers Fernando Barros (Defense) and Jaime Campos (Agriculture) deemed it illegal for violating the Free Trade Agreement, the U.S. ambassador to Chile, Brandon Judd, told them to be quiet, without the “patriotic” government reacting and continuing to demonstrate docility towards Washington.

During his participation in the far-right summit, the Madrid Forum, held in Santiago, the U.S. diplomat stated that Chile applies the so-called “Monroe Doctrine” and that, under José Antonio Kast’s administration, this policy “becomes very easy” to implement.

In response to calls from the Foreign Ministry, he made it clear that he does not intend to moderate his public interventions regarding Chilean internal politics. “I will keep doing it,” he recently stated.

Simultaneously, Kast’s government decided to adopt a position favorable to Washington, above Pelín, as evidenced by the statements of Foreign Minister Pérez designating the U.S. as a strategic partner and China as merely a commercial partner, along with agreements with the FBI, critical minerals, and the Border Shield. Various sectors are warning that the ideological affinity of the far-right president with Trump cannot take precedence over the strategic interests of Chile.

“Chile is now on the verge of acting as a sort of protectorate of the United States, and that is quite concerning,” warned Deputy Cuello.