Through a reading of the novel Amuleto (1999), the centrality acquired by spaces in Roberto Bolano's narrative as chronotopes of trauma and barbarism linked to some historical events of the Latin American past, such as the military occupation of the University National Autonomous Government of Mexico (UNAM) and the Tlatelolco massacre. It is argued that the relevance of the places is based on an allegorical function that, in addition to the circumstantial utility, penetrates the structure of the work and contributes to a literary configuration of the regional historical memory. Based on the theorizations of Mijail Bajtin and Gaston Bachelard on the notions of 'chronotope' and 'literary space', respectively, the analysis delves into the contest of two meanings that Bolanian writing assigns to spaces: the representation of what is closed as favorable to reflexive liberation, and of the open and natural as a symbol of state violence and barbarism.