♦ Jose Antonio Kast was sworn in as Chile’s new president during a ceremony at the National Congress in the coastal city of Valparaiso.

♦ The 60-year-old leader formally assumed office in the Hall of Honor.

♦ His political career began while studying law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where he joined the Gremial Movement founded by Jaime Guzman, a close ally of military ruler Augusto Pinochet and one of the architects of the country’s 1980 Constitution.

♦ He spent nearly two decades in the right-wing Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party, serving as a municipal council member and later as a lawmaker from 2002 to 2018.

♦ In 2019, Kast founded the Republican Party, saying he wanted to represent a harder political line than what he described as a moderating traditional right.

♦ After unsuccessful presidential bids in 2017 and 2021, Kast secured victory in his third attempt, defeating left-wing candidate Jeannette Jara in a runoff last December.