Chile and Argentina seek to confront common enemies in Kast’s first state visit
Chilean President José Antonio Kast departed Sunday on his first official trip abroad to meet his Argentine counterpart Javier Milei in a state visit centered on security, organized crime and the extradition of former guerrilla member Galvarino Apablaza.
It is a good time to strengthen ties and start closing certain issues that can empower both nations, Kast told reporters before boarding his flight to Buenos Aires. The president stressed that both countries face shared threats: We have common enemies attacking our nations and we must confront them together, he said, referring to drug trafficking and cross-border organized crime.
Kast is traveling with a delegation led by Foreign Minister Francisco Pérez Mackenna and including the ministers of Security and Public Works and the undersecretary of International Economic Relations. The agenda, which wraps up Monday evening, covers border crossings, energy cooperation and mining — areas both governments have identified as bilateral priorities.
The trip follows the Chilean diplomatic tradition of choosing Argentina as a new president’s first international destination, a gesture also followed by his predecessor Gabriel Boric in 2022. It is not, however, the first meeting between the two leaders: Kast visited Milei at the Casa Rosada as president-elect last December, and the two held talks at the Shield of the Americas summit convened by US President Donald Trump on March 7, four days before the inauguration ceremony in Santiago, which Milei attended as a special guest.
The Apablaza case
The extradition of former guerrilla member Galvarino Apablaza, accused of masterminding the 1991 assassination of Senator Jaime Guzmán, is a central item on the visit’s agenda. The delegation includes the secretary general of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party, Juan Antonio Coloma, who will hold meetings with lawyers connected to the case.
Apablaza, who had lived as a refugee in Argentina for decades, could not be apprehended last Thursday when an arrest warrant was issued following the Milei administration’s revocation of his refugee status. His whereabouts remain unknown.
It is clear that Mr. Apablaza is a fugitive from justice and we are grateful for the cooperation the Argentine government has provided in all these matters, Kast said. He added: Justice will come, and sooner or later Mr. Apablaza will have to answer before Chilean courts.
His lawyer, Rodolfo Yanzón, told Chile’s Canal 13 that his client will not turn himself in because that would validate an absolutely illegal act, arguing that Apablaza’s refugee status remains in force until it is definitively resolved through the courts via an extraordinary appeal filed before Argentine tribunals.
Apablaza’s extradition was a campaign promise by Kast. President Milei had already conveyed his commitment to cooperate in the case, EFE reported. Guzmán, an ultraconservative politician who founded the UDI — a party created during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990) — and a figure with close political and personal ties to the Kast family, was assassinated after Chile’s return to democracy.
