Leftist Gabriel Boric sworn in as Chile's president in sharp political shift

Chilean leftist Gabriel Boric, 36, was sworn in as president on Friday, marking the sharpest shift in the Andean country's politics since its return to democracy three decades ago after the bloody dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.

At the Congress building in the port city of Valparaiso, Boric, a tattooed former protest leader and lawmaker, took the presidential sash from outgoing billionaire President Sebastian Pinera, making him the country's youngest ever elected leader.

"Before the Chilean people, I make my pledge," said Boric , who in a sign of changing times wore a shirt and jacket but no tie, unheard of for male presidents in strait-laced Chile.