Memorialicidio: Human rights heritage under threat

This article analyzes the recent wave of attacks targeting sites of remembrance of human rights violations in Chile. Between 2018 and 2024, more than 163 desecrations have been registered, reflecting the threat human rights’ heritage sites are facing in the midst of a rising far right and their denialist discourses. This phenomenon is conceptualized as Memorialicidio, that is to say, destructive actions that seek to cause damage to those commemorative sites, to materially eradicate the cultural and political legacy of the memorials and their communities, imposing a particular way of remembering. Through visual semiotic analysis, news review, and 20 interviews with experts in the study of memory, three dimensions of Memorialicidio have been identified: (1) their practices, (2) their perpetrators, (3) their impact on policies of memory. Finally, the article reflects on the new battles for memory in Chile and resistance to these attacks.