A war of pardons after the Boric-Kast transition

In 2022, when Gabriel Boric was still Chile’s president, he granted clemency to a group of convicts linked to the famous 2019 Estallido social protests. His decision sparked a political firestorm, derailing tentative cross-party talks he had tried to build after losing a constitutional referendum.

Now, the recently sworn-in José Antonio Kast is preparing to flip the script. In a highly publicized interview, the new leader said his administration is reviewing files of police and military officers sentenced for abuse against protesters during that same uprising, suggesting that presidential pardons could be forthcoming.

Kast is pitching his idea as “reconciliation,” saying it will recognize officers who “fulfilled their duty” during a difficult time. But the political implications are inescapable, as the decree would seek to establish a new narrative around Chile’s polarizing 2019 protests: one that suggests law enforcement officials did their best faced with violent attacks, rather than having abused their power during the policing of legitimate protests.