Chile's outgoing President Gabriel Boric and president-elect José Antonio Kast will meet Sunday at La Moneda Palace in a final attempt to salvage the country's democratic transition process—testing whether Latin America's institutional norms can survive one of the region's most dramatic ideological shifts in a generation.
The 11:30 AM meeting comes after both sides suspended cooperation following a contentious encounter last Tuesday that lasted barely 15 minutes. Kast, whose far-right Republican Party swept to power on promises to restore "order" and combat crime, declared at the time: "We're ending the transition process because we don't trust the information being provided."
The breakdown stemmed from disputes over a Chinese telecommunications cable case and visa suspensions targeting Transportation Ministry officials, including Minister Juan Carlos Muñoz—minor administrative matters that exploded into a crisis of confidence between the incoming and outgoing governments.
Democracy Under Stress
For Chile, the stakes extend far beyond protocol. This Wednesday's formal handover ceremony will complete a transfer of power from a 36-year-old former student protest leader who promised to dismantle Pinochet-era economic structures to a 57-year-old conservative who has defended the dictatorship's legacy and campaigned on reversing Boric's progressive reforms.
According to BioBioChile, the Boric administration pushed for Sunday's reconciliation meeting despite Kast returning late Saturday from the Shield of the Americas conference in Washington, where President Trump publicly praised him as a who will


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