The Fantasy of Order: Kast’s First Public Account and the Authoritarian Desire

In his first Cuenta Pública, José Antonio Kast does more than report on the state of the nation: he constructs a political fantasy of order. Chile appears as a wounded body, damaged by disorder, crime, migration, economic stagnation, and institutional weakness. Against this image, the State returns as a paternal force promising reconstruction, discipline, security, and national rebirth.This column examines the authoritarian nuances of Kast’s discourse: the shift from rights to moral rewards, the figure of the internal enemy, the fantasy of the restored Father, and the idea that freedom can only exist after order has been imposed. It is not fascism as open declaration, but authoritarianism as desire: the belief that the nation can be healed if the State becomes hard enough.