Kast Delivers First Cuenta Pública, Declares 'Economic Emergency' and Unveils Security, Housing Plans

President José Antonio Kast delivered his first Cuenta Pública (annual State of the Nation address) to a joint session of Congress on June 1, 2026, speaking for nearly two and a half hours. Kast characterized the economic situation as an 'emergencia económica,' framing it not as alarmism but as a call to action, and pointed to over 1.3 trillion pesos in government spending containment and efficiency measures already implemented. On security, he announced intervention in 50 'critical neighborhoods,' legislation extending the flagrancy detention window from 12 to 24 hours, expanded police autonomy, border-control measures, penalties for masked vandals and a new 'vandal registry,' plus recovery of prison control via more than 20,000 new Gendarmería-run prison spaces. On housing, the National Reconstruction Plan will inject 400 billion pesos into an Emergency Fund to rebuild more than 4,000 homes, alongside transfer of 10 million square meters of public land for housing development. He announced the 800-billion-peso Ruta Austral infrastructure plan and progress on Santiago Metro Lines 7, 8, and 9. Kast also previewed a June 15 amendment to the Sala Cuna Universal (universal childcare) bill intended to remove a hiring barrier for women in place for over a century, and set growth targets of 4% GDP growth and 300,000 recovered jobs with unemployment falling to 6%.