Human Rights Groups Accuse Government of Budgetary Strangulation of National Search Plan and Memorial Sites

Original article: Agrupaciones de DDHH acusan «asfixia presupuestaria» del Gobierno al Plan Nacional de Búsqueda y los Sitios de Memoria

A total of 128 social and human rights organizations have reported a «budgetary strangulation» by the government of José A. Kast, specifically targeting the National Search Plan (PNB) and the country’s memorial sites.

Amid discussions surrounding the 2027 Budget, these organizations released a statement outlining the cuts proposed by the current administration.

«The budget for implementing the National Search Plan for the year 2027 decreases in real terms (considering the CPI) by -27.71% in the allocated resources for carrying out forensic investigations and expertise,» they pointed out initially.

They highlighted the situation with the Legal Medical Service, which has a sector allocation of $291,014,000 for conducting forensic examinations under the National Search Plan, «an amount that represents a real reduction of -42.21% -considering CPI- compared to the 2026 budget, which had $489,514,000 available.»

Additionally, they noted that «the budget for financing actions related to the recovery, maintenance, operation, and enhancement of Memorial Sites for the year 2027 decreases by -36.7%, accounting for the CPI.»

As if that weren’t enough, they pointed out that the resources exclusively allocated to the «ordinary budget of the Memorial Sites Program decreased overall by 60.69%, dropping from $1,688,953,000 to $683,075,000 for the year 2027, including 100% of the investment funds.»

Moreover, they added, «there is a delay in the processing of declaration requests by the National Monuments Council (under the Ministry of Cultures), a situation resulting from the lack of response from state agencies responsible for providing the necessary details to support these files, such as the Undersecretariat of Human Rights.»

«As a consequence of this administrative backlog, there are currently 63 pending requests for declaration or extension of protection for sites since March 2026,» the groups warned, describing the current situation as «critical.»

Requests

In their statement, the groups and memorial sites made several requests.

The first is directed at the members of the National Congress, urging them to demand the «immediate and CPI-indexed reinstatement of the Legal Medical Service paragraphs allocated for forensic expertise,» as well as those linked to the investment fund for the Memorial Sites Program.

They also called on Congress to ask the government for the reasons behind the elimination of Paragraph 03 from the Judiciary and whether the digitalization project for search cases under the PNB will continue.

Read the full statement HERE.

We will continue to provide updates.