Groups representing relatives of detained and disappeared persons, along with organizations that run memorial sites, said the 2027 budget bill from José Antonio Kast's government cuts funding for the Plan Nacional de Búsqueda (PNB, the National Search Plan), for forensic work by the Servicio Médico Legal (SML, Chile's state forensic service) and for sites that commemorate human rights violations under the dictatorship.
According to BioBioChile, the groups made the complaint in a joint statement, dated October 14 according to El Desconcierto. In it, they argue that if the cut stands, Chile would see its worst setback in this area since 1990.
The Subsecretaría de Derechos Humanos (Undersecretariat of Human Rights) acknowledged there will be less money but said the searches will continue. It described the reduction as a more efficient use of resources.
The signatories estimate that PNB search procedures and forensic work would receive $391 million less than in the initial 2026 budget. Adjusted for inflation, the drop reaches 27.71%. The total would fall from $1,526 million to $1,134 million.
Funding from the Human Rights Program for search procedures, which pays for fieldwork, taking testimony and exploring possible sites with remains, would fall from $1,037 million to $844 million, according to BioBioChile. El Desconcierto reports slightly different figures: from $1,036 million to $843 million.
At the SML, funds to identify remains would fall from $490 million to $291 million. El Desconcierto puts the initial figure at $489 million and estimates a real drop of 42.21%. On top of this, $91.2 million was cut during 2026 through decrees No. 135 and No. 332.
"These decisions directly affect the families who are still waiting for answers," said Claudia Bascuñán Álamos, president of the Agrupación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos Liquiñe (Liquiñe Association of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared). For her, the search is "a permanent responsibility of the State, not an option".
Memorial sites face the deepest cut. Combined funding for the Memorial Sites Program and the budget line of the Servicio Nacional del Patrimonio Cultural (Serpat, the National Cultural Heritage Service) would fall from $2,888 million to $1,879 million, a real reduction of 36.74%.
The program alone would go from $1,688 million to $683 million, a real drop of 60.69%. It also loses its entire investment component, which in 2026 had $505 million for conservation, archaeological recovery and infrastructure repairs.
Mónica Monsalves, president of the Corporación Sitio de Memoria Cerro Chena (Cerro Chena Memorial Site Corporation), warned that the cut puts salaries, educational visits and maintenance at risk. She noted that of the 1,132 detention and torture centers during the dictatorship, only 72 have official protected status and just 16 receive state funding.
At Casa Memoria José Domingo Cañas, Marta Cisternas said the projected $30,469,000 per year is not enough to hire a minimum team. Fundación 1367, which runs the site, was already left without funding in 2026, as were seven other sites, including Venda Sexy and the former Clínica Santa Lucía.
The statement also raises concerns about the elimination of Budget Line No. 03 of the Poder Judicial (Judiciary), which protected $384.6 million to digitize human rights case files and required quarterly reports to Congress. The item that funded commemorations and gatherings of relatives is also eliminated.
The organizations asked Congress to require the Executive to restore the forensic and heritage investment funds, adjusted for the IPC (consumer price index). They asked the Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales (National Monuments Council) to resolve 63 requests for protection of sites, pending since March 2026.
