9.7. [RG LatAm] Memories and the New Right in the Southern Cone, Panel II: Cultural memory of Authoritarian Violence in Chile, Argentina, and Peru [ES]
This panel explores how recent right-wing movements in Latin America mobilize collective memories of authoritarian pasts to legitimize new political and affective configurations. Through case studies from Peru, Chile, and Argentina, the papers examine how cultural production, youth activism, and political discourse reframe histories of state violence, corruption, and national identity in the post-neoliberal era.
Daniela Jara investigates the “return of Pinochet” in Chilean cultural memory, showing how far-right influencers and digital producers deterritorialize the dictator’s figure through affective strategies of nostalgia and irony. Her analysis highlights how these new media practices reframe symbols of authoritarianism into transnational affective commodities.
Luciana Messina and Valentina Salvi study libertarian youth activism in Argentina, particularly in the streaming program “La Misa”, where humor, sarcasm, and irony are used to trivialize state violence from the 1970s. Their ethnographic analysis reveals how memory and repression become objects of parody, signaling a generational shift in the cultural politics of remembrance.
Virginia Vecchioli examines new memorial initiatives under Javier Milei’s government, revealing how libertarian youth reconfigure official memory policies to valorize “victims of terrorism.” Her work situates memory disputes as key arenas of polarization, where democratic values and historical accountability are renegotiated.
Fernando Velásquez analyzes the continuities and transformations of Fujimorismo in Perú between 2017 and 2026, focusing on how “salvific memories” of Alberto Fujimori’s regime.
Together, these contributions demonstrate that memory politics in Latin America are being rearticulated within contemporary right-wing imaginaries that merge nostalgia, irony, and affective re-signification.
Daniela Jara, Universidad de Valparaíso, "The Return of Pinochet in Cultural Memory: Deterritorialized Affects and Production Strategies"
One characteristic of contemporary societies, with their remarkable capacity for circulating and disseminating messages across transnational cultural landscapes, is the production and appropriation of deterritorialized affects. In the literature, these have been referred to as “nostalgia without memory” (Appadurai) or “pastiche” (Jameson). In this presentation, we will analyze the conditions surrounding the return of Pinochet to cultural memory and the strategies employed by his producers. Over the past two decades, the salvific memory of the dictator as a hero has circulated mainly in peripheral and private spaces. As shown by Larraín in El Conde, this figure has been universalized as a symbol of evil. However, in recent years, cultural producers—primarily influencers aligned with the new extreme right—have generated a new spectral representation of his figure. These producers employ strategies that claim displaced values and cultural matrices, applying the same to Pinochet’s image. By analyzing their social media posts, this presentation will explore the conditions of Pinochet’s return as a deterritorialized affect and reflect on what occurs when the circulating symbol embodies a rupture of democracy and state violence."
Luciana Messina; Valentina Salvi, CIS-CONICET/IDES-UNTREF/ UBA; CIS-CONICET/IDES-UNTREF. ""Memory and Violence of the 1970s in the Discourse of Libertarian Youth in Argentina"
This paper analyzes contemporary conceptions of state and political violence from the 1970s among young leaders of Argentina’s libertarian movement (""mileísmo""), examining how that past is reappropriated in the context of the so-called “cultural battle.” The case study focuses on ""La Misa"", a popular streaming program in which a group of male followers of Javier Milei combine political commentary with ironic evocations of Argentina’s recent past.
The study seeks to identify which actors, events, and meanings from the 1970s are reactivated in this cultural product; to examine how these representations challenge established narratives of memory and human rights; and to explore the discursive and performative resources—such as irony, sarcasm, and humor—through which state violence and repression become objects of mockery. The guiding questions are: under what circumstances does the military dictatorship and the state violence of the 1970s become laughable in the discourse of right-wing youth? What social and cultural transformations allow disappearance, torture, and murder to become subjects of irony? How does this humorous register articulate with ongoing political and memorial disputes in the present?
Methodologically, the paper combines discourse analysis of ""La Misa"" episodes with an ethnographic approach to audience reception, including observation of live chat interactions and related social media exchanges. This dual strategy aims to understand how these narratives circulate, are appropriated, and resignified by audiences. By doing so, the paper contributes to broader debates on the reconfiguration of memory politics in contemporary Argentina, showing how digital libertarian spaces transform the traumatic legacies of the 1970s into tools of political satire and cultural identity formation within the new right.
Luciana Messina; Valentina Salvi, CIS-CONICET/IDES-UNTREF/ UBA; CIS-CONICET/IDES-UNTREF. "Memoria y violencia de los 70 en el discurso de jóvenes libertarios"
Este trabajo se propone analizar las concepciones sobre la violencia estatal y política de los años setenta entre jóvenes referentes de la militancia mileísta, y los usos actuales de ese pasado en el marco de la denominada “batalla cultural”. Se toma como caso de estudio el programa de streaming La Misa, donde un grupo de varones seguidores de Javier Milei combina comentarios sobre política y actualidad con evocaciones del pasado reciente. El objetivo consiste en indagar qué actores, hechos y sentidos de los años setenta se recuperan en este producto cultural; examinar cómo se polemiza con las narrativas consolidadas de memoria y derechos humanos; y explorar los recursos discursivos y performativos —como la ironía, el sarcasmo y el humor— que posibilitan que la violencia y la represión estatal se conviertan en materia de burla. Las preguntas que organizan este escrito son ¿cuándo y bajo qué condiciones la dictadura militar y la violencia desplegada por el Estado en los años setenta se tornan risibles en el discurso juvenil de derecha? ¿Qué transformaciones habilitan que la desaparición, la tortura y el asesinato sean objeto de ironía? ¿Cómo se articula este registro humorístico con las disputas memoriales y políticas del presente? Trabajamos desde un abordaje que combina el análisis del discurso de los episodios de La Misa con una estrategia etnográfica orientada a la recepción, que incluye observación de la interacción en el chat en vivo y en redes sociales, a fin de comprender cómo estas narrativas circulan, se apropian y resignifican entre sus audiencias."
Virginia Vecchioli, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (Brasil). "Reconfigurations of Recent Memory: New Right-Wing Movements and Polarization around Victims in Argentina".
This paper examines disputes over the memory of Argentina’s recent past as one of the central axes of contemporary political polarization. It focuses on memorial initiatives emerging within the sphere of the new right as a privileged locus to observe the rise of novel claims and repertoires of mobilization among young supporters of President Javier Milei’s government, and as a window into current dynamics of political confrontation.
Since 2024, various memory-related initiatives have gained political prominence under ""La Libertad Avanza"", such as the renaming of March 24—traditionally the “Day of Memory for Truth and Justice”—as the “Day of Memory for Complete Truth and Justice,” and the organization of an official Senate event marking the “International Day of Victims of Terrorism.” Particularly illustrative is the campaign to rename the Buenos Aires subway station ""Rodolfo Walsh"" after “the victims of terrorism.”
The analysis highlights the centrality of a generation of young people born in democracy, socialized under the Kirchnerist memory policies, who now mobilize within libertarian spaces that strongly contest the established narratives of the recent past. These actors deploy provocative strategies aimed at desacralizing official memory and reframing its meanings around the figure of the “victims of terrorism.”
Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2024 and 2025—including participant observation, in-depth interviews, and documentary analysis—the paper shows how memory functions as a key terrain of polarization and a strategic resource for political actors disputing the meaning of the 1970s. It argues that these memory struggles articulate historical reinterpretations of state violence with contemporary re-evaluations of Kirchnerist governments, revealing how the politics of memory remain a vital field of ideological contestation in Argentina today.
Virginia Vecchioli, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria."Reconfiguraciones de la memoria reciente: nuevas derechas y escenarios de polarización en torno a las víctimas en Argentina."" Este trabajo analiza las disputas en torno a la memoria del pasado reciente como uno de los principales ejes de polarización política en la Argentina contemporánea. Se analizan iniciativas memoriales producidas al interior del espacio de las nuevas derechas en tanto locus privilegiado para observar el surgimiento de nuevas reivindicaciones y repertorios de movilización entre los jóvenes que adhieren al gobierno de Milei y como una forma de dar cuenta de las actuales dinámicas de confrontación política. Desde 2024, diversas iniciativas memoriales alcanzaron centralidad política bajo el gobierno de La Libertad Avanza, cuando el 24 de marzo fue rebautizado como “Día de la Memoria por la Verdad y la Justicia Completa” o en el Senado se realizó un acto por el “Día internacional de las víctimas del terrorismo”. Entre ellas se destaca la militancia en torno al cambio de nombre de la Estación Rodolfo Walsh de subte por el de víctimas del terrorismo. El análisis muestra el protagonismo de una generación de jóvenes nacidos en democracia, socializados en las políticas de memoria del kirchnerismo y actualmente movilizados al interior de los espacios libertarios que cuestionan duramente la memoria del pasado reciente. Estos actores despliegan estrategias provocadoras orientadas a desacralizar la memoria oficial y reconfigurar sus sentidos en torno a las víctimas del terrorismo. El análisis se basa en un trabajo de campo etnográfico realizado en 2024 y 2025 que combina observación participante, entrevistas en profundidad y análisis documental. Los resultados muestran cómo la memoria se constituye en un terreno clave de polarización y en un recurso estratégico para actores que disputan sentidos sobre los años 70, articulando estas querellas con valoraciones presentes de los gobiernos kirchneristas.
20260731T140020260731T1530America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires9.7. [RG LatAm] Memories and the New Right in the Southern Cone, Panel II: Cultural memory of Authoritarian Violence in Chile, Argentina, and Peru [ES]SV203MSA Buenos Aires 2026buenosairesconference@memorystudiesassociation.org
