From political reconciliation to functional rehabilitation in State actions for reparation (Chile, 1992-2023)

Comprehensive reparation is a state obligation in response to human rights violations. However, its realization is variable and depends on complex strategic configurations. The objective of this study was to understand the discourse of Chilean state actions of recognition and reparation of human rights violations perpetrated in the last dictatorship (1973-1990) and in the period known as Social Outbreak (2019-2022). From a governmentality perspective, we analyze the discourse of state actions at both junctures, exploring the national trajectory in terms of reparations. We distinguish a process of construction and stabilization between 1990-2011, in which state action addressed the political community and individual victims through the notions of truth, reconciliation and comprehensive reparations. By contrast, during the period 2019-2023 the status of the human rights violation became the object of public controversy and contentious politics, shaping a reparation labeled as comprehensive but focused on treating physical injuries. Contrary to the accumulated experience, political community and individuals were displaced as subjects of recognition and reparation, highlighting the biological body as the main object of the State's reparatory action.