I'm John Batchel. This is the New World Report with Professor Evan Ellis of the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute.

Just return from the Americas, Chile in particular, Santiago, the capital of Chile, but there is a new day in Chile with an election that move from the left of center, a Marxist graduate student president, to the right of center, a businessman, and Chile has

a lot of business to do for the remainder of this century. It is rich in natural resources,

especially copper, commanding all-time high prices. But what I know Chile for is the high desert

of astronomy.

Again and again, when we refer to new telescopes coming on that are necessary for research or even planetary defense,

they're always chilly because of the conditions and also the country has been welcoming to the astronomy community who start in Santiago and

their lives in the high desert. So I welcome Evan. I know that he was not in the telescope

part of Chile, but in any event I celebrate the country for being at the forefront of research.

Professor, welcome back.

Chile has a new president, and your conversations there had to touch upon that because it's

not an extreme example of flip-flop, but it does suggest that the electorate is not

consistent. What do we learn from that? Good evening to you.

Good evening to you, John. Well, certainly it was a fascinating series of conversations. As you

point out, Chile's new president, Jose Antonio Cast, who was inaugurated just a little while

ago on March 11th. He is a staunch social conservative, an ardent Catholic

with nine children. He is very close to President Trump, at least in his orientation of war.

He wants to take Chile's foreign policy. He's been very supportive of the U.S. crackdown

in actions in Venezuela as well as the Middle East.

But beyond that, what really brought cast power were two things.

Number one, Chile has been beset by increasing insecurity.

The country is traditionally relatively low crime, relatively low homicide rate.

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