A surge in violent crime looks set to dominate presidential elections Sunday in Chile, where the far-right is riding high with promises to crack down on transnational gangs and carry out mass migrant deportations.

A sharp increase in murders, kidnappings and drug trafficking over the past decade has sown terror in one of Latin America’s safest nations, causing a right-ward lurch after nearly four years of center-left rule.

“What I want from the next president is more of an iron fist,” ‘mano dura’ in Spanish, said Hernan Gonzalez, a 28-year-old educator for juvenile offenders in the northern city of Iquique, accusing migrant “hordes” of driving “trafficking, crime and juvenile drug use.”

The main left-wing candidate, Jeannette Jara, is a communist, who is leading polls for the first roun

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