Cristian Valenzuela Bustos

Cristian Ricardo Valenzuela Bustos (born 15 March 1981), also known by the nickname Guatón Valenzuela, is a Chilean political adviser.

He is considered one of the main communications strategists and closest advisers of President José Antonio Kast, and an influential figure in the Second Floor of La Moneda Palace.

Early life and education

Valenzuela was born on 15 March 1981 in the commune of Recoleta, Santiago. He is the son of Carlos Valenzuela, a former colonel in the Chilean Army. He grew up in a military family and attended a school operated by Fundación Alcanzar, an organization associated with Chilean Army families.

He studied law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where he also obtained a master's degree in political science. He subsequently completed a Master of Public Administration (MPA) at Cornell University in the United States.

Career

Valenzuela's first involvement in politics was taking Polaroid photographs of Joaquín Lavín during an electoral campaign. From 2007 to 2009, he worked as a legislative researcher at the Jaime Guzmán Foundation, where he developed a closer relationship with José Antonio Kast and participated in the 2008 constitutional impeachment proceedings against education minister Yasna Provoste.

He served as chief of staff to deputy Rodrigo Álvarez Zenteno of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) while Álvarez was president of the Chamber of Deputies from 2009 to 2010. He subsequently continued as Álvarez's chief of staff during his tenures as undersecretary of finance and minister of energy under the first administration of Sebastián Piñera.

Valenzuela was a member of the UDI and has held academic positions at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

He participated in Kast's presidential campaigns in 2017 and 2021. During the 2025 presidential campaign, he headed Kast's strategic communications team. He was also a member of the expert panel of Chile's Senior Public Management System (Sistema de Alta Dirección Pública, SADP) for seven years.

From 2021 to 2024, he served as executive director of Ideas Republicanas, the think tank associated with the Republican Party.

Kast administration

Following Kast's electoral victory in December 2025, Valenzuela became a strategic adviser and content coordinator in the Second Floor of La Moneda, where he has been described as one of the administration's most influential figures.

On 11 March 2026, he became Director of Content of the Presidency of Chile.

Valenzuela received more than CLP$24 million for advisory work during Kast's 2021 presidential campaign, which was reimbursed through the Electoral Service of Chile (Servel). In 2026, his contract at La Moneda provided for payments of up to CLP$8.9 million per month. He had also served on the SADP expert panel, which participates in the selection of senior public officials, since 2018.

Media career

Valenzuela has also worked as a columnist for La Tercera.

In November 2018, following the killing of Camilo Catrillanca and Chilean footballer Jean Beausejour's subsequent tribute to his Mapuche heritage, Valenzuela published a column titled Mapuche por Conveniencia ("Mapuche by Convenience"). In the column, he accused Beausejour of applying a double standard and defended then-interior minister Andrés Chadwick.

In October 2025, he published a column in La Tercera titled Parásitos ("Parasites"), in which he strongly criticized the functioning of the Chilean state and described some of its employees as "parasites". The column generated criticism and tensions within the Chilean right.

Valenzuela was criticized by figures from his own political sector after confirming that he would work in the Kast administration despite having previously denied that he would do so. In response, he stated that "promises are made to be broken".

He was also identified as the strategist behind the phrase Estado en quiebra ("State in bankruptcy"), which was used in official government social media posts in March 2026 and generated a dispute involving the government, the Comptroller General and the Central Bank. Valenzuela publicly assumed responsibility for the messaging.

He was subsequently identified as one of the principal figures behind the communications strategy associated with the brief tenure of government spokesperson Mara Sedini.