Forty years later, Justice for Victor Jara: School of the Americas Grad Indicted in Murder of the Popular Allende-Era Singer/Activist

This article was first published in Truthout here.

The move to extradite Florida resident Pedro Barrientos Nunez in connection with the murder of famed Chilean singer Victor Jara - a supporter of deposed President Salvador Allende - is re-igniting Chile's campaign for justice for victims of the Pinochet regime's reign of torture and violence.

The US-backed military coup in Chile on September 11, 1973, was a prelude to systematic state terrorism unleashed after the bombing of the presidential palace, La Moneda, and Salvador Allende's alleged suicide.

Allende's Popular Unity was a socialist movement that unified the workers' struggle within a realm of culture. The Nueva Cancion Chilena (New Chilean Song), born out of a necessity in the mid-1960s to articulate social struggle, became a popular feature during Allende's presidential campaign, with musicians wholeheartedly bequeathing their support.

Victor Jara, a Nueva Cancion singer synonymous with the movement, became one of the first victims of the dictatorship when he was brutally tortured and murdered after being apprehended at the Technical University and brought to Estadio Chile- the country's national sports stadium. Secrecy and impunity shrouded Victor's death, until testimony from a former conscript at Estadio Chile revealed the name of Victor Jara's alleged killer.

The name of Pedro Pablo Barrientos Nuñez became the source of a relentless campaign by Chilean social movements to pursue justice for Jara. A documentary aired in May 2012 by Chilevision, entitled Quien Mató a Víctor Jara? (Who Killed Víctor Jara?) drew upon the testimony of several survivors, conscripts, former lieutenants and activists to reconstruct the events leading to the singer's death. In the course of the documentary, ex-conscript Jose Alfonso Paredes Marquez alleged that Barrientos had pulled the trigger, shooting Víctor in the head. "He shot him at almost point blank range because the man would not answer him," stated Paredes.

The campaign "Justicia Para Víctor Jara" (Justice for Víctor Jara) gained momentum last year, with Joan Jara and lawyer Nelson Caucoto Pereira urging the Minister of Defense and the Armed Forces of Chile to reveal classified information that would lead to identifying the lieutenants responsible for Victor's murder.

On December 28, 2012, Chilean newspaper El Mostrador announced indictments had been issued against Barrientos, Hugo Sanchez Marmonti, , Raúl Jofré González, Edwin Dimter Bianchi, Nelson Haase Mazzei and Luis Bethke Wulf in connection with Jara's murder.
Another two former officials were later indicted: Jorge Smith Gumucio and Roberto Souper Onfray. Following the announcement, an international arrest warrant was issued for Barrientos, who had been living in Florida since the 1990s, and Paredes, the ex-conscript, was arraigned on charges related to his alleged role in Jara's death. Judge Miguel Vásquez denied bail to the seven former lieutenants, four of whom already are serving sentences for other unrelated crimes.

Almost 40 years after Jara's murder, Judge Vásquez said he had no doubt about Barrientos' role, despite Barrientos' claim that he was never inside Estadio Chile and "never having heard of the singer Jara in that era." Barrientos had previously stated he was in the vicinity of the presidential palace, La Moneda, during the military coup. Questioned by journalist Macarena Pizarro from Chilevision, he declared his intent to never return to Chile to face prosecution. "I do not have to face justice because I killed no one. I've been to Chile several times, but now, loud and clear, I won't go."

The extradition request detailed the events leading up to Jara's murder. On September 12, 1973, the Technical University was surrounded by soldiers, who apprehended students and staff barricaded in the building, transferring them to Estadio Chile under the command of the Tejas Verdes contingent.
Jara's popularity rendered him a threat to the military dictatorship. His support for Salvador Allende's Popular Unity, and his later role as ambassador for the government's politics and socialist culture, cultivated a symbol of resistance and unity with the campesinos. Upon his arrival at the Estadio Chile, a lieutenant nicknamed "el Principe" recognized Jara and singled him out for brutal torture. The identity of "el Principe" remains disputed, although in his testimony Paredes indicated the nickname referred to Nelson Haase. Judge Vásquez stated that Jara was shot 44 times on September 16 - four days after soldiers brought him to Estadio Chile.

Following his murder, Jara would have become one of Chile's well-known "los desaparecidos" (the disappeared), his body thrown outside the Metropolitan Cemetery for burial in a mass grave, had he not been recognized by a social activist, who alerted others to his fate. Following a secret burial, Joan Jara and her daughters fled to exile in the UK, risking their lives by smuggling Jara's recordings out of Chile at a time when any material related to the Nueva Canción was tantamount to conspiracy against the dictatorship.

The denial of involvement in Jara's murder was echoed by other former lieutenants, exhibiting an impunity bordering upon the ludicrous. From the non-committal replies, outright denial, to out-of-context afterthoughts, like Nelson Haase's, "I was never in Estadio Chile. I don't know it. I don't even like football," the former lieutenants relished their apparent impenetrable status. However, Paredes stated he accompanied Barrientos during the period when Estadio Chile was transformed into the nation's first torture and detention center, and also had access to the interrogation rooms.

All officials indicted for the murder of Jara formed part of the Tejas Verdes contingent, and operated directly under the command of Manuel Contreras Sepulveda, later head of DINA [Direccion de Intelligencia Nacional]. The Tejas Verdes contingent specialized in torture practices, later dispersing to hold official positions in other detention and torture centers throughout Chile, like Londres 38, Villa Grimaldi, Tres y Cuatros Alamos and the notorious extermination center Cuartel Simón Bolívar, headed by Manuel Contreras himself and collaborating with other officials like Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, specializing in the detention of communist and MIR [Movimiento Izquierda Revolucionario] militants.

The role of the US in facilitating the coup against Salvador Allende is well known and asserted by various statements from Henry Kissinger, who declared the issue of communism in Chile "too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves." An equally pivotal role that the US played in supporting the right-wing dictatorship was its training of soldiers and lieutenants through the School of Americas (SOA). Four of the indicted officials are SOA graduates, including Barrientos.

Established in 1946, the SOA trained more than 64,000 Latin American soldiers, bequeathing them a wealth of counterinsurgency techniques, torture instruction and intelligence tactics. The deceitful mission statement of the SOA deemed democracy an integral part of military training; however, Latin American history has been replete with accounts of torture corresponding to tactics learned at the SOA. In reality, the SOA appears to have constituted a military program aimed at eliminating the socialist revival which was intensified after the success of the Cuban Revolution. SOA Watch has established that one out of every seven DINA officials in Chile were enrolled in the school and responsible for the targeting of Communist and MIR militants.

Speaking out against impunity, lawyer Nelson Caucoto urged soldiers who were present in Estadio Chile to break their pact of silence about the atrocities committed, emphasizing a duty towards remembrance as opposed to strengthening Pinochet's hope for oblivion. After the screening of the documentary, Joan Jara asserted her belief "officials lied with impunity," and the expressed the necessity of investigating within the higher echelons of the military in order to extract any semblance of justice.

The extradition request has strengthened tenacity toward preserving memory and justice in Chile. Social networking sites have been influential in disseminating updates about the case. While Barrientos' Facebook profile appears to be inaccessible, his photo, together with the extradition request, has been a prominent feature of Chilean activists' clamor for the right to memory.
If the extradition and subsequent trials are successful, Chilean memory will have succeeded in implementing justice within a country still shackled by remnants of the dictatorship. Last year brought about a resurgence of tactics designed to eliminate references to human rights violations by deconstructing narrative and language. Reclaiming Jara's memory as inherent to the public space will serve as a catalyst for justice against decades of oppression that still flourish in today's society, as impunity provides a channel of legal and political control through torturers and DINA agents employed within the public sphere.

Copyright, Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.

Book Review. His Hands Were Gentle: Selected Lyrics of Victor Jara

This book review was first published in Irish Left Review here.

His Hands Were Gentle: Selected Lyrics of Victor Jara
Smokestack Books, 2012
http://www.smokestack-books.co.uk

His Hands Were Gentle: Selected Lyrics of Victor Jara (2012) captures a spectrum of lyrics which explicitly portrays social upheaval and the struggle against injustices. Victor Jara’s poetry resonates with memory and history woven into relics of resistance and triumph, culminating into an unfinished poem narrating the decadence of the dictatorship and initiated annihilation of socialism.

Thirty nine years after his death, Victor Jara remains a symbol for the Chilean left. Joan Jara’s foreword to the book shifts between memory and exile, explaining the commitment towards imparting Victor’s legacy in the aftermath of his murder. Living a constant battle against the right wing’s coveted practice of oblivion when confronted with dictatorship atrocities, Joan reiterates that Chilean justice is hampered by secrecy and impunity.

A founding member of the nueva canción movement together with Isabel Parra, Angel Parra, Rolando Alarcon and Patricio Manns, Victor gave constant support for Salvador Allende’s Unidad Popular political campaign. Epitomised by songs such as El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido and the ubiquitous hymn of Venceremos, Allende’s campaign amalgamated social struggle and culture into a popular movement. Nueva canción served as a medium of expression for the left wing and, following Allende’s electoral triumph, many musicians travelled abroad as ambassadors for Unidad Popular.

This collection portrays Victor’s tenacity to challenge inequalities which, at times, manifested themselves into atrocities. Born in Lonquen, Victor witnessed and experienced the ramifications of poverty, finding solace in music and later conducting extensive research in folk music. Songs such as Canción del minero (Miner’s Song) and Plegaría a un labrador (Prayer to a Labourer) assert the indignity of exploitation with regard to human labour and natural resources. The helplessness exhibited in Cancion del Minero is transformed into a yearning to defeat the oppressor in Plegaría a un Labrador – unity embracing revolution and hope. Acknowledging armed struggle as a possible means to achieve dignity is implied in the last verse – evolving from solitary lament into social consciousness.

Victor pays homage to Miguel Angel Aguilera in El alma llena de banderas (Our Hearts are Full of Banners). A communist and member of Brigada Ramona Parra, Aguilera was killed during a street demonstration in Santiago in 1970. Victor contrasts the inspiration of Aguilera with the traitorous attitude of his murderers, stating “In the hiding place of rich murderers/ your name will stand for many names/ The one who burnt your wings as you flew/ cannot put out the fire of the poor.”
Preguntas por Puerto Montt (Questions about the massacre of Puerto Montt) earned Victor the rancour of right wing sentiment after singing the song at a boys’ secondary school in 1969. The song is addressed to Mr Perez Zujovic, the Minister of Interior who ordered a massacre upon a peasant community occupying a stretch of wasteland in Puerto Montt. Ninety one peasant families were attacked by 250 armed police, leaving 11 dead and many injured. The youngest victim was a nine month old child.

A particularly poignant song, Manifiesto (Manifesto) articulates Victor’s testimony as a singer, reaffirming his dedication to alleviate and revolt against violations. “My guitar is not for killers/ greedy for money and power,/ but for the people who labour/ so that the future may flower.” Victor’s declaration of “… a man who will die singing/ truthfully singing his song” was no vague metaphor but an assertion of his loyalty towards the people and a premonition of his own fate. The song is reminiscent of El Aparecido (The Apparition), dedicated to Che Guevara a short while before he was ambushed and murdered by CIA trained troops in Bolivia.

On the day of the military coup, Victor Jara was taken prisoner along with other workers and students barricaded inside the Technical University. Estadio Chile, Victor’s last poem, was written during his brief imprisonment at the stadium, which was transformed into the first detention and torture centre during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. Written on scraps of paper and smuggled out of the stadium by a detainee who was later released, Victor inscribed what would be one of the initial endeavours in memory narrative, describing the brutality of the dictatorship. The incomplete poem describes the terror inflicted upon the 5,000 detainees in the stadium, documenting the soldiers’ beatings and psychological torture inflicted upon the prisoners. “One dead, another beaten as I could have never believed/a human being could be beaten/ … one jumping into nothingness,/ another beating his head against a wall,/ but all with the fixed look of death.”

Despite efforts to reveal the identities of officers responsible for Victor’s murder, most details are shrouded in secrecy and strengthened by oblivion and impunity. The Armed Forces of Chile refuse to reveal information which would further investigations into Victor Jara’s murder. In May, a documentary entitled Quien Mato a Victor Jara? (Who Killed Victor Jara?) revealed the name of Pedro Pablo Barrientos Nuñez as the lieutenant who allegedly pulled the trigger on Victor. Barrientos has been living in Florida since Jose Paredes, an ex-conscript, was indicted for his role in Victor’s murder and refuses to return to Chile. Other officers refuse to collaborate, since the impunity laws of the dictatorship still govern Chilean society.

This poetry collection furthers Victor’s testimony of political turmoil in Chile, the years of Salvador Allende’s Unidad Popular when metaphors transcended the realm of illusion, and the initiation of the subsequent US aided military coup. The figure of Victor Jara has, throughout the years, become synonymous with the fight for justice despite the repression of dictatorship relics still governing Chilean society. An endeavour which strikes against impunity and oblivion, His Hands Were Gentle imparts a revolutionary consciousness, ensuring that the cry of “ni perdon, ni olvido” (neither forgiveness, nor oblivion) enters the realm of internationalism.

Vuelvo - Patricio Manns

The University of California, Berkeley, has published my English translation of Patricio Manns' poem, Vuelvo.
 http://www.clas.berkeley.edu/Publications/Review/Fall2011/pdf/BRLASFall2011-Vuelvo-English.pdf

A Victim of the Prince? Article published in History Today

A link to my article published in the May Issue of History Today, discussing the life and murder of nueva cancion singer Victor Jara. http://www.historytoday.com/ramona-wadi/victor-jara-victim-prince 

Memory in Exile: An Interview with Jorge Coulon of Inti Illimani

This interview was first published in Upside Down World here.
Founded in May 1967, Chilean nueva canción group Inti Illimani quickly became popular in Chile and other neighbouring countries. Inti Illimani willingly involved itself in transmitting the message of Salvador Allende’s Unidad Popular to Chileans, bringing the social aspect of politics to the people through music. As Jorge Coulon told Upside Down World, nueva canción artists supported Allende “completely unselfishly”, perceiving in Allende an opportunity for society to flourish and regain its dignity.

Inti Illimani happened to be on tour in Europe when Pinochet overthrew Allende’s government in a military coup. In a relentless drive to eliminate all traces of socialism, the nueva canción was banned, tapes, records and musical instruments related to the nueva canción were destroyed and artists were imprisoned, exiled or even murdered, as happened to Victor Jara. Inti Illimani took up residence in Italy where they remained for fifteen years until 1988, when Chile’s borders were declared open. The group returned to Chile on September 18, 1988, soon becoming involved in a campaign that rejected the notion of another eight years under Pinochet’s dictatorship.

Following the return from exile, some musicians left the group and were replaced by others. However the band split in the last decade, with three former members of the initial Inti Illimani retaining the same name with the addition of (Historico), in order to be distinguished from Inti Illimani, who retained the original name.

Inti Illimani has been involved in many concerts paying homage to the people who sacrificed their lives for Chile and socialism, reviving the memory of Victor Jara and Salvador Allende. Next October, Inti Illimani will be joined by two other nueva canción groups, Quilapayun and Illapu, in a concert which unites the singers in performance for the first time ever in Chile.

Ramona Wadi: What role did Inti Illimani play in Chilean society prior to the military coup of Augusto Pinochet? Was it a political or a social role?

Jorge Coulon: Sometimes, the role that artists have played in Latin America is difficult to explain in a European cultural, social and political context. In the Chilean society (and Latin American as well) of the 20th century, artists and intellectuals have played some political and social roles many times. This is probably due to the huge differences in the social aspect and because of the scandalous contrast between the wealth of a very few and the poverty of the vast majority of the people.

In a very vast majority, the artists were part of political movements looking for a deep social change. Inti-Illimani was a part of these movements. But above all of that, Inti-Illimani's role was the music, the searching of a deeply rooted musical language among the popular traditions in Latin America and the projection into the future of a multicultural society in the middle of an ever changing world. Inti-Illimani had the feeling of developing the musical language of the new cultural reality that was rising in South America.

RW: How did the nueva canción artists support Allende's Unidad Popular? Was it a coincidence due to the circumstances or a natural role to fulfill due to the character of the song?

JC: The support given by the artists of nueva canción to Allende's government was absolutely and completely unselfish. We all felt that Allende's government was in fact our government, a unique chance in history to build a society based on justice and equality. Of course, the administration of Salvador Allende was the crowning achievement of a century involving workers and intellectuals struggling to achieve a country free of outrages, exploitations, corruption, a country in which citizens were really equal in the eyes of the changes and the law.

RW: Being abroad, what is your memory of experiencing the news of the military coup, the assassination of Victor Jara? How did the distance affect your recollections of Chile?

JC: I remember I felt surprise, pain, uncertainty, anger, despair, disappointment ... there were a lot of different feelings and they all were combined in our thoughts, in our conversations. The distance and the exile distort the image of one's own country. You live in some kind of schizophrenic state, not only related to these two parallel realities but also in a third dimension which is the memory distorted by nostalgia. For the one living in exile, it's hard to accept that your reality is just the one of the country you're living in and that your relationship with your own homeland is completely virtual, illusory, unreal, at some extent imaginary, because it doesn't matter how much information you have, how much interest you have in the events happening in your country, your country is not really present in your daily life - in the smell, the flavours...For us, Chile was somehow an abstract idea and Italy was our daily reality.

RW: How did exile influence your reality and what was the impact of exile on the music of Inti Illimani?

JC: I lived in exile between the ages of 25 to 40, so my formation as an adult person was the reality of the exile, the feeling of being separated from my roots together with a permanent obsession for our far-away country. Of course, these feelings were translated into music in two different ways: first of all, we enhanced our interest and our passion for Latin American music and we assessed its qualities even more and we recognised its multiple influences better. Secondly, we added to our music the resonance that we encountered because of the exile in our daily life, the meeting of other musicians and artists and music from all around the world.

RW: Do you still view the nueva canción as a necessity in the present?

JC: What was known as the nueva canción movement was a phenomenon of the searching of a musical identity belonging to a generation that grew up in a continent that had nothing, that had lost its wealth, its freedom, its liberty, its justice. The necessity of embracing identity and dignity guided us to look for our realities and our time's sounds; first in popular roots and then in the crossbreeding.

A major part of that searching is still very important. Latin America is realizing that in the current "Globalization" it's necessary to have a strong identity through which one can relate to the rest of the world; because that's the only way you can have your own place in this "global" world. A person who doesn't have a clear and strong identity is like the air in this ‘globe balloon’ which a lot of people blow up but just a few are able to play with.

RW: Is there any collaboration between Inti Illimani and other nueva canción artists?

JC: I'm not sure if the word "collaboration" is adequate in this context, but there is some contact and some involvement and friendship with some of them. From time to time there are some encounters like the one next October 14 - 15 with Inti-Illimani, Illapu and Quilapayún at the Caupolican theatre in Santiago. The concert is called Juntos, aquí estamos (We are here together) and all groups will be together on stage for the first time in Chile. I think what is most important is to be in contact and collaborating with the new musicians and popular singers, so the nueva canción won't resemble an isolated planet doomed to disappear but given the opportunity to transform into the seeds of a movement that will renew and grow in the new generations, with the natural changes in time and history.

RW: Are there any other projects in mind for the future and do you view them as a continuation of the nueva canción?

JC: We have a lot of projects, which are not easy to undertake when considering we have a 44 year human and musical history. With such a long history, we work on condition that each project should be an original contribution which retains both continuity and renewal of the musical language. Of course, since this is Inti-Illimani, it's all about an ideal continuity of what it's known as nueva canción (New Song), a name that's a contradiction in itself, for every new thing is doomed to become old over time.

The Legacy of the Nueva Cancion - An Interview with Patricio Manns

Written by Ramona Wadi, Photo by Alejandra Lastra

Tuesday, 21 December 2010 20:23

This interview was first published in Upside Down World here


More than three decades ago, in September 1973, the world witnessed the horrors unleashed in Chile following the military coup of right wing military dictatorship Augusto Pinochet. But prior to the coup in Chile, there was a movement that elevated music to a higher consciousness. The Nueva Canción was the revolutionary song of Chile and other Latin American countries, and its strength lay in its loyalty to the people and delivery of its political message and social change.

In adhering to the social message within the music – fighting injustice, oppression and dictatorships, several artists of Nueva Canción suffered when their home countries were flagellated by right-wing regimes. For instance, Victor Jara was tortured and brutally murdered in the Estadio Chile.

The Pinochet regime was so concerned with the powerful message of the Nueva Canción that it strived to ban the genre of music, together with traditional musical instruments associated with the revolutionary style of songs. Other prominent singers and groups, such as Inti Illimani, Quilapayun and Patricio Manns were exiled.

Today, Nueva Canción artists are of a lesser number. Patricio Manns, Chilean poet, author, singer and songwriter is one of the few whose work is a testimony to history. Despite current trends and contemporary politics, which contribute a difference to ideology and culture, Manns remains committed to the universality of the Nueva Canción, and continues to be a revolutionary voice, recognizing the necessity of it and promoting the movement through his numerous works.

Patricio Manns’ song, De Pascua Lama, has been chosen to represent Chile in the Festival de Vina del Mar 2011. The Pascua Lama mining project, located in the Andes south of Atacama, has been the source of controversy ever since Barrick Gold obtained permission.


PM: Think of it as almost equivalent to my life. My first songs are babbling questions, small musical pieces that try to say something without finding the right words. But as you progress through life, your understanding, your appreciation of things, changes. If you manage to achieve the power of your craft, those same songs, or their themes, will be much more reflective, more perceptive, expressed in greater depth. This depth did not exist before my exile experience. And that is fundamental for an analysis of my work. During my exile I saw the world, I saw people, I learned other languages, and I came into contact with another kind of music. I returned to Chile another person. The person who left Chile was stuck somewhere on the planet, and is now no longer necessary.

RW: What is the importance of the Nueva Canción today in Latin America, where socialist movements have gained strength?

PM: The original spirit of the Nueva Canción has been lost; the replacement generation has not yet appeared. And cultural policies do not facilitate its appearance. I feel I am an orphan in my work to conserve the premises and ideals of that movement, but I have continued to emphasise the importance of the Nueva Canción -- and this has made my work necessary.

RW: Did the Nueva Canción undergo any changes in its messages to the poblacion?

PM: I believe that in Latin America, song continues to develop. Although it seems to me that at times there are pauses. The vehemence and creativity of the past no longer exists, and many people of the Nueva Canción have died, people who today would be essential for its revival. Furthermore, there are concrete facts: singing to a triumphant movement is not the same as singing to a defeated movement. Triumphant movements inspire suspicion and mistrust toward the creator. Because it is an act in perpetual movement, its days are unpredictable.

RW: Is the Nueva Cancion universal? Would you say its message is relevant today within the West, where capitalism seems to be the order of the day?

PM: The Nueva Canciónes (of various countries) are universal. I receive people from all over the world several times a year, who ask me questions about the Nueva Canción, from Hong Kong to New York. The movement is still a political and cultural reference, at least in the West.

RW: How does the Nueva Canción explore society? The political through the social or vice-versa?

PM: The Nueva Canción has given extraordinary power to popular song, stripping away the residue of nostalgic memories and patriarchal shadows, replacing them with pride, perseverance and resistance – these are the materials we are working with. For example, right now in Chile the conditions exist for the revival of the Nueva Canción, if those who are called to revive it can perceive it in that way and understand the opportunity.

 

Victor - An Unfinished Song

by Joan Jara

Bloomsbury, 1998

Review by Ramona Wadi

"I need the wood and strings of my guitar to give vent to sadness or happiness, some verse which opens up the heart like a wound, some line which helps us all to turn from inside ourselves to look out and see the world with new eyes." Victor Jara

In the preface, Joan Jara expresses relief at the opportunity to relate such an integral part of Chilean history. Indeed, this memoir soothes, enraptures and enrages the reader, with the knowledge that each page brings one closer to an atrocious epilogue - a reminder of the horrors unleashed by the military coup of Augusto Pinochet.

Joan Jara's narration is provocative and poignant. From the first pages one senses the fervour of socialism, coupled with the experience of a British woman in Chile. Arriving in Chile as a ballet dancer who later took up teaching, the initial experience as a foreigner quickly dissolves as her life with Victor becomes the immediate reality. Their lives together soon become overshadowed by a short lived socialist triumph with the election of Salvador Allende which descended into tyranny with the emergence of right wing violence and the US supported military coup which degenerated into a bloodbath.

The Nueva Cancion Chilena was part of the left's struggle against imperialism, integrating itself with the people and becoming a voice for the laments of the poblacion. Like other nueva cancion singers and groups, such as Inti Illimani and Quilapayun, Victor Jara supported Allende's presidential campaign wholeheartedly. Allende's Unidad Popular gave Chileans the hope for freedom and the song Venceremos quickly became the official hymn of the Unidad Popular.

The opposition to Allende's government was fuelled by US foreign policy, which seems to have deemed it ethical to eliminate any traces of communism in Latin America. Allende's final broadcast, in which he pledged his life to the people, was the initiation of a bloody trail that haunted Allende's supporters. In snippets of telephone conversation with Joan Jara, Victor managed to illustrate a cautious overview of events from his workplace at the Technical University. A few days later, she was informed of her husband's death by a companero. 

Victor's murder at the Estadio Chile was pieced together later by witnesses. Victor was singled out especially for torture and mockery by a soldier nicknamed 'The Prince' who, by all accounts is reputed to have been extremely sadistic in his treatment of the prisoners. Recognised as a nueva cancion singer, Victor's defiance and pledge to remain close to the people never wavered. In a poem written hours before his death, Victor Jara bequeathed the world with a testimony that paid homage to the thousands of people murdered by the military.

In the aftermath of Victor's murder, Pinochet embarked on a destructive mission against the nueva cancion. Victor Jara's song records were destroyed and the purge extended to instruments normally associated with the nueva cancion. His musical legacy still exists due to the efforts of Chileans hiding record copies and eventually smuggling them out of Chile.

Victor - An Unfinished Song is a testimony which mingles horror, exile, nostalgia and the repercussions of right wing politics. An essential read for anyone with an interest in the nueva cancion, the book is rendered intimate by the lyrics to Manifiesto and Vientos del Pueblo, as well as Victor's last poem from the Estadio Chile. It is a sphere of Chilean history yet, the universal philosophy of the nueva cancion makes this book an integral part of any person's history, whether beyond immediate recollection or a reflection of contemporary oppression.