Kast’s Press Chief Receives $1.5 Million from State While Overseeing Presidential Campaign

Original article: La jefa de prensa de Kast que cobra del Estado: $1,5 millones para “asesorar” a una diputada mientras dirige la campaña presidencial

María Paz Fadel Arcuch, a key player in José Antonio Kast‘s communication team, is officially listed as an advisor to Republican congresswoman Chiara Barchiesi.. Her salary, funded by public money, raises an uncomfortable question: Is Congress subsidizing the far-right candidate’s campaign?

The Double Salary No One Wants to Explain

There are questions that no campaign team wants to answer, and this is one of them. The head of press for presidential candidate José Antonio Kast, María Paz Fadel Arcuch, not only manages the media strategy of the Republican leader: she shapes headlines, coordinates appearances, and manages crises.

Simultaneously, according to official documentation from the Chamber of Deputies, Fadel is listed as a communications advisor to Republican congresswoman Chiara Barchiesi, with a monthly salary of $1,500,000 paid with public funds.

In other words, while she designs the communications for a presidential campaign, she is receiving a wage from Congress, supposedly for advising a member of parliament. This creates a perfect mix of political propaganda and state funding.

Parliamentary Advisor or Electoral Operator?

On paper, Fadel’s contract could make sense: providing communication advice for a young and less-established congresswoman. In practice, Fadel operates as spokesperson, filter, strategist, right-hand, and media shield for the presidential candidate.

This role, as any journalist or politician knows, is not done part-time, remotely, or just on weekends. Managing the communication of a presidential campaign means living in a constant state of alert: phone in hand, crises unfolding, and messages calculated to the second. Thus, the question becomes evident: when and how does she fulfill legislative duties? More critically, is Kast’s presidential campaign being funded with public resources intended for parliamentary work?

The Discomfort for the Republican Party

This episode would be a minor detail if not for one fact: the Republican Party has built its identity around austerity, merit, and the crusade against state waste. Kast has repeatedly claimed that the government must stop “funding political operators.”

Meanwhile, his press chief receives a monthly paycheck from Congress to “advise” a congresswoman while she also works full-time on his presidential campaign. The contradiction is clear. And politically, toxic.

The Shield of Silence

So far, neither Kast, Barchiesi, the Republican Party, nor Fadel have clarified:

• What specific tasks she performs for the congresswoman
• How many hours she dedicates
• What deliverables exist
• How she balances this role with a national campaign

They have also not clarified the most sensitive issue: whether part of her party or electoral work is financed with public resources allocated for legislative functions. If so, we would be facing a potential improper use of public funds, a matter that often ends up in regulatory agencies, investigations, and sometimes legal action. The silence, rather than resolving doubts, only deepens them.

The issue is not just legal. It is ethical, political, and symbolic.

In a context where the country debates expenditure reduction, transparency, and state abuse, discovering that Kast’s campaign is funded by salaries drawn from Congress not only contradicts his rhetoric: it exposes it.

It reveals a structure that preaches against privileges but uses them when convenient. That denounces political operators but pays them with state funds. That demands transparency while acting as if nothing is happening.

The team at El Ciudadano attempted to reach Fadel for comment but received no response by the time of publication.

The final question, perhaps the most brutal one: while Kast promises to end “politics funded by all Chileans,” his press chief is receiving a monthly paycheck from Congress. So, how much of the Republican candidate’s presidential campaign is being financed—directly or indirectly—with public resources?

And another, even sharper question: Is demanding austerity while looking to the people while using Congress as a petty cash fund not exactly what the moralistic right vowed to eradicate?