María Corina Machado to Attend Chile’s Leadership Transition, Strengthening Right-Wing Alliance with Washington

Original article: Machado se suma al cambio de mando de Kast y refuerza el eje de la derecha alineada con Washington

Venezuelan far-right opposition leader María Corina Machado announced her plans to travel to Chile for the leadership transition between President Gabriel Boric and elected President José Antonio Kast.

This confirmation came via a statement released by Machado’s official spokesperson, indicating that after receiving an invitation from the Republican leader, she will join a list of political figures aligned with the right wing that cooperates closely with Washington, who will take part in the ceremony scheduled for Wednesday, March 11, at the National Congress in Valparaíso.

She is also expected to attend the launch of the “Sebastián Piñera Chair” at the University of Development, an initiative promoted by the family of the late former president, coinciding with one of the first official agendas of the new government.

Kast will become the first far-right president and the first defender of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship (1973-1990) to assume power since the return of democracy in Chile. It is anticipated that leaders from Latin American countries of his political sector will attend the investiture, including the presidents of Argentina, Javier Milei; Ecuador, Daniel Noboa; Bolivia, Rodrigo Paz; Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves; Honduras, Nasry Asfura; and Panama, José Raúl Mulino.

Notable Absences: Trump, Bukele, and Meloni

The ceremony will also feature Spain’s King Felipe VI and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, along with the leaders of Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi; Hungary, Tamás Sulyok; Haiti’s Prime Minister Alix Fils-Aimé; and Curaçao’s Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas.

However, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele will not attend, sending Vice President Félix Ulloa instead, nor will Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

From the United States, Kast will not be accompanied by President Donald Trump or Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The White House will send a delegation of six officials led by Brandon Judd, the U.S. Ambassador to Chile.

The delegation includes Christopher Landau, Undersecretary of State; Michael Kozak, senior official of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs; Caleb Orr, Undersecretary for Economic Affairs; Joseph Humire, acting Undersecretary of Defense for National Territorial Security and Affairs in the Americas; Viviana Bovo, senior advisor in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs; and Matthew Rhodes, Chief of Staff in the Office of the Secretary of State.