Kast Admits He Personally Ordered Transfer of Common Prisoners From Punta Peuco, Restoring Regime-Era Exclusivity

On the eve of his first annual State of the Nation address, President José Antonio Kast confirmed in a Meganoticias interview that he had personally ordered Gendarmería to transfer three common (non-political) prisoners out of the former Punta Peuco prison — renamed 'Til Til' under a 2025 decree by predecessor Gabriel Boric that ended its decades-long status as an exclusive facility for Pinochet-era human rights convicts. Asked directly whether the transfer originated from the presidency, Kast replied 'Sí' ('Yes'), contradicting earlier statements from Justice Undersecretary Luis Silva, Interior Undersecretary Máximo Pavez, and Gendarmería that had described the move as a routine technical decision based on inmate requests. Kast framed the action as part of a broader plan to 'order' Chile's penitentiary system, separating high-risk inmates into maximum-security facilities, with the explicit aim of restoring Til Til to its original purpose of housing only military and police personnel convicted of dictatorship-era crimes against humanity. Opposition legislators reacted sharply: Frente Amplio deputies Tatiana Urrutia and Gael Yeomans accused Kast of prioritizing privileges for 'the worst criminals Chile has known' over urgent penitentiary reform, while PPD figures Carlos Carvajal and Jaime Araya said the admission proved the government had misled the public about its intentions. To fully reverse Boric's decree, the Kast administration would still need to formally modify Supreme Decree No. 580 of 1995 — a step not yet taken as of this reporting.