Enquistado

[aleCcowaN]

We use "enquistado" (having formed a "quiste" -cyst- inside the flesh) in a figurative sense to depict those people who have climbed to some position and are fighting to keep it although they have no longer merit or right to it: "se han enquistado y parece que nadie puede echarlos".

How did you say it in English?

[chileno]

Brown nosers.

[Rusty]

A 'brown-noser' is a chupamedias (lamebotas, lameculo).

I'm still trying to think of a way to say 'enquistado' in English.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Rusty

A 'brown-noser' is a chupamedias (lamebotas, lameculo).

I'm still trying to think of a way to say 'enquistado' in English.

Correct.

Enquistado or "espinita" is the same...

[caliber1]

Power monger

[aleCcowaN]

I appreciate your effort. I'm thinking it might be something along with the terms leeches or ticks though "(se ha) enquistado (en el poder/en tal o cual posición)" doesn't emphasize the parasitic qualities of the subjects but the layers and layers that they managed to get surrounding and protecting them and the unavoidable damage that should be inflicted to healthy (social) tissues in order to get rid of them.

[Glen]

Maybe, to use a nautical term, "barnacles?"
Also, I've heard it said of certain public servants that "you couldn't pry them loose with a crowbar" once they get themselves ensconced in the retirement system.

[aleCcowaN]

Thanks, Glen. That was very useful. It provides a lot of descriptions that are suitable to depict such people. We say "están pegados con loctite" and call people "una lapa" (a limpet) when the follow us everywhere.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

To become embedded/implanted
To have nested in a place

[pjt33]

Oxford gives "to become deeply entrenched"; I was thinking along similar lines with "to dig in deep". But none of those seem to have quite the precision of enquistado; perhaps the solution is to take a slightly different perspective and describe the result: "He's made himself unfireable".