National Monuments Council to Decide on El Bosque Air Base Declaration as a Site of Memory

Original article: Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales votará la declaratoria de la Base Aérea El Bosque como sitio de memoria

The National Monuments Council will shape the future of three military sites associated with repression, following years of delays in the process.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, January 28, the National Monuments Council (CMN) will convene at the Palacio Pereira to vote on the declaration of various properties at El Bosque Air Base as Historical Monuments. This meeting will be crucial for human rights organizations as three files of sites currently under military control will be reviewed.

The Popular Memory Group of El Bosque highlights that this process has faced constant obstacles and tensions with the Ministry of Defense. They assert that the air base functioned as a key repressive mechanism in the southern sector of Santiago, where detentions, torture, and executions against local residents and students occurred, making it essential that this history is not forgotten.

Alongside the site in the Metropolitan Region, the Council will also vote on the Popular Bathing Area of Las Machas in Arica and the Maquehue Air Base in La Araucanía Region, which share the complexity of military ownership, resulting in technical controversies during the memory file preparations.

Once the technical committee approves the declarations, it will fall to the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage to sign the final decree. Groups are urging Minister Carolina Arredondo to expedite this administrative step so that the resolution can be officially published in the Official Journal without further delays, particularly given the limited time remaining in President Gabriel Boric’s term.

For survivors and victims’ families of the dictatorship, this milestone represents a fundamental advance in the state’s obligations regarding reparations and non-repetition under international law. Protecting these sites aims to ensure that the history of crimes against humanity committed there is not erased from the places where they occurred.