Chile's Kast skips Sept 11 commemoration, first to vindicate Pinochet

Chilean President José Antonio Kast has decided not to hold a special event at La Moneda on the anniversary of the 1973 coup, breaking with post-democracy tradition. He is the first president to openly vindicate Pinochet's dictatorship, raising questions about his human rights policy. The Interior Minister defended the move as avoiding 'extremes of the past', but the decision signals a shift in state memory and could strain political consensus.