Chile: 3 more charged in Victor Jara murder

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Chile: 3 more charged in Victor Jara murder
| September 3, 2014 | Updated: September 3, 2014 10:36pm

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile charged three more people on Wednesday in the murder of folk singer Victor Jara during the country's 1973 military coup.

~snip~

Jara, whose songs tackled social and political issues, was swept up with thousands of other supporters of socialist President Salvador Allende during a military coup led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

Last year, Jara's family filed a civil lawsuit in the United States accusing former Chilean army Lt. Pedro Barrientos Nunez of ordering soldiers to torture the singer. The lawsuit also said Barrientos personally fired the fatal shot while playing a game of "Russian roulette" inside a locker room in Santiago's Estadio Chile, where some 5,000 supporters of Allende were being detained.

Barrientos, who left Chile in 1989 and is living in the U.S., is part of the group of officers who also face criminal charges in Chile related to the singer's killing. Barrientos has denied all involvement, saying he wasn't there and didn't even know who Jara was at the time of the coup.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Chile-3-more-charged-in-Victor-Jara-murder-5731175.php

[Warpy]

1. I'm sure to Barrientos Jara was just another bit of human cattle

Last edited Thu Sep 4, 2014, 01:38 AM - Edit history (1)

that the fascists under Pinochet and aided by US intelligence had marked for slaughter.

I hope justice is done at long last.

And I hope when the time is ripe and their supporters are all dead or retired from government, the BFEE is called to account for their crimes.

ETA:

It's a biographical sketch of an indigenous blanket weaver, her surroundings, her stunted hopes, the movement her hands make as she completes a blanket she hopes will sing for a profit.

[Judi Lynn]

10. So beautiful. How could anyone not see how much he loved people? Thank you so much. n/t

[Ken Burch]

2. For younger DU'ers, here are some of the songs the Chilean fascists killed Victor for creating:

CANTO LIBRE/FREE SONG

A verse is like a dove seeking a place where to lay her eggs
It bursts out and spreads its wings getting ready to fly away

my song is a song of freedom
that I want to give away
(my song is a song of freedom)
to those who like shaking hands and to those willing to struggle
(my song is a song of freedom)

My song is like an endless chain
(My song is like an endless chain)
My song is like an endless chain
without beginning and without end
in each one of its links you find the song of everyone
yes the song of everyone.

let's keep on singing together
lets sing to all on earth
(let's keep on singing together)
since singing is like a dove having yet a place to find
it bursts out and spreads its wings getting ready to fly away

my song is a song of freedom......

&list=RDOEFbFfgNg_M#t=2

MANIFIESTO(one of the last songs Victor wrote, only weeks before the coup, when he knew he was probably going to be killed)

I don't sing for the love of singing,
or because I have a good voice.
I sing because my guitar
has both feeling and reason.
It has a heart of earth
and the wings of a dove,
it is like holy water,
blessing joy and grief.
My song has found a purpose
as Violeta* would say.
Hardworking guitar,
with a smell of spring.

My guitar is not for the rich
no, nothing like that.
My song is of the ladder
we are building to reach the stars.
For a song has meaning
when it beats in the veins
of a man who will die singing,
truthfully singing his songs.

My song is not for fleeting praise
nor to gain foreign fame,
it is for this narrow country**
to the very depth of the earth.
There, where everything comes to rest
and where everything begins,
song which has been brave song
will be forever new.

QUIEN MATO A CARMENCITA?(WHO KILLED CARMENCITA?)

With her best dress, freshly pressed, she left
trembling with anxiety her tears fell
in the distance the sound of dogs and car horns
darkness covered the park as the city slept.

Only age fifteen and her life faded
home was suffocating and school bored her
in halls of radio her heart would beat
shining in her eyes were the idols of the day.

The cruel dealers of dreams in magazines
of whom youth they profited from
twisted her desires and fed her lies
bottled promises of love and fantasy.

Only age fifteen and her lifer faded...

Did you hear? Little Carmen died
in her mind the rose bled
she set off to chase her last dream.

The girl did not believe it was poison
that those fairy tales were not for her
to discover a world of marijuana and pool parties
with Braniff International fly away to happiness.

Her world was simple, in the Pila Neighbourhood
broken streets filled with holes
her home small and narrow, helping in the kitchen
while in agony others would profit.

The papers said : cause of death unknown...

[Judi Lynn]

3. Your inclusion of the "Manifesto" song is a gift. Powerful beyond words.

The first was overwhelming, so amazing, tears to the eyes. Beautifully, wonderfully done.

"Manifesto", with your revelation he created it not long before the military invaded the university campus and seized him, makes the song stand in greater relief, no doubt, but it was so much more evolved, meaningful than what people are used to in ordinary music. He sang it with such purpose and intensity. Nothing can be said to explain how that song affects the listener. Too difficult to try.

Had to put off hearing the third one until later, for the moment. The two I heard already have astounding staying power.

Thank you.

[Ken Burch]

5. The last one(WHO KILLED CARMENCITA?) is particularly heartbreaking.

Here's an interesting thing to do...play it...then play "Royals" by Lorde. It almost sounds like her song, by sheer happenstance(an even more bizarrely, written at about the same age at which "Carmencita" was found dead in that park), is kind of a response to his, from forty years later-not exactly a rebuttal, but almost as if there's kind of a dialogue that happens between them.

[Judi Lynn]

12. Just heard the two songs. Unbelievable talent in Victor Jara. Amazing coincidence between the two.

I don't believe there has been any other singer who had his skills in modern times. Can't imagine who it would be.
He cared so much about his work, so easy to tell immediately.

I'll bet the Violeta he mentioned in "Manifesto" was Violeta Parra, also a Chilean singer of the New Song (Nueva Canción Chilena) movement.

[center]

"Thanks to Life" (Gracias a la vida)
Violeta Parra (author)

[/center]
The song, written and sung by Violeta Parra, above, sung by Mercedes Sosa, who
was arrested on stage in Argentina during her persecution for her politics during their Dirty War.

Spanish to English translation:

Thanks to life

Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me two stars, which when I open them,
Perfectly distinguish black from white
And in the tall sky its starry backdrop,
And within the multitudes the one that I love.

Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me hearing that, in all of its reach
Records night and day crickets and canaries,
Hammers and turbines, bricks and storms,
And the tender voice of my beloved.

Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me sound and the alphabet.
With them the words I think and declare:
“Mother,” “Friend,” “Brother” and light shining down on
The road of the soul of the one I'm loving.

Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me the steps of my tired feet.
With them I have traversed cities and puddles
Valleys and deserts, mountains and plains.
And your house, your street and your garden.

Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me this heart that shakes its frame,
When I see the fruit of the human brain,
When I see good so far from evil,
When I look into the depth of your light eyes…

Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me laughter and it gave me tears.
With them I distinguish happiness from pain
The two elements that make up my song,
And your song, as well, which is the same song.
And everyone’s song, which is my very song.

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
I love "Te Recuerdo Amanda" by Victor Jara. He and his wife named one of their daughters "Amanda."

[center]

[/center]

I remember you, Amanda

I remember you, Amanda
The wet street
running to the factory where Manuel worked

The wide smile, the rain in your hair,
nothing mattered
you were going to meet with him,
with him, with him, with him

They were five minutes
life is eternal
in five minutes

The whistle blew
to return to work
and you walking you lit up everything
those five minutes
made you blossom

I remember you, Amanda
The wet street
running to the factory where Manuel worked

The wide smile, the rain in your hair,
nothing mattered
you were going to meet with him,
with him, with him, with him

And he took to the mountains to fight
He had never hurt a fly
and in five minutes
it was all wiped out

The whistle blew
to return to work
many didn't go back
neither did Manuel

I remember you, Amanda
The wet street
running to the factory where Manuel worked

Submitted by carlitabay on Tue, 17/09/2013 - 05:25

Taken from http://lyricstranslate.com/en/te-recuerdo-amanda-i-remember-you-amanda.html#ixzz3CPrQSCMc

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
Thank you so much for sharing those incredible links.

[Ken Burch]

14. It was indeed Violeta Parra, who is considered the founding spirit of "Nueva Cancion"(New Song)

the type of music created by Victor Jara, Inti-Illimani, Quilapayun, and others's(including Violeta's own children, Angel and Isabel, who had musical careers in their own right). Violeta didn't live to see the Allende government(sadly)or the fascist coup(thankfully, as it would have crushed her spirit). Like many brilliant people, Violeta Parra battled bipolar disorder and it caused her to choose to leave this world on a lonely night in 1967 when the agony of living became unendurable for her.

"Gracias A La Vida" has a special place in my life and my memories. My wife and I had it performed by a good friend at our wedding in 1998, then, six years later, it was performed again at my wife's unexpectedly early funeral Mass(she had been in bad health for much of our relationship). Even writing that sentence, ten years after her death, still brings a huge level of pain.

Sorry for the digression, but songs can have that effect on a person.

[Judi Lynn]

16. Ken Burch, never had the slightest idea how poignant that song is in your life.

It is a phenomenal song, going deeper than anything you see reflected in other music. Overwhelming.

So sorry for the situation which was dealt to you and your wife. Extraordinarily searing. Had I know, of course I wouldn't have posted two links to "Gracias A La Vida." I can see how the song from the beginning mattered a great deal to you both, and other people of depth.

Thank you for your comments.

[Ken Burch]

17. It's all right. Don't feel badly about that.

I'm glad you did post it...and it's part of the power of that song that people can connect with it in many different ways.

It's extraordinary that, so many years later, the music of Violeta Parra and Victor Jara still connect with people. As Victor said in the last line of "Manifiesto"

Song that has been free song will be forever new.

Have a wonderful weekend, and may the songs and the dreams live forever.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Also for younger DU members, a short history of Victor Jara:

Pascale Bonnefoy
December 5, 2009 14:15

Victor Jara, presente

Thousands of people, young and old, on Saturday accompanied the remains of folk singer Victor Jara to the General Cemetery in Santiago, where he received a proper burial 36 years after his murder.

Born to a family of impoverished farm workers, Victor Jara was one of the main figures of the Chilean New Song movement. An accomplished theater director, composer and singer, his music was well-known in Chile and abroad, and continues to be played and remembered. His music spoke of poverty, injustice, solidarity, exploitation, change, hope and love.

A day after the military coup that ousted socialist president Salvador Allende on Sept. 11, 1973, Jara, a member of the Communist Party, was arrested at the State Technical University (UTE) along with hundreds of academics, employees and students. They were all taken to the Chile Stadium — renamed Victor Jara Stadium — which was used as a detention center for thousands of political prisoners for about a week after the coup.

In the stadium, he was singled out, beaten, his hands crushed, tortured and killed. His bullet-riddled body was later found in an isolated area of Santiago with two other victims. He was buried on Sept. 18, 1973 almost clandestinely by his widow, British-born choreographer Joan Turner, and two others.

Jara’s torturers and executers are still at large, although investigative judge Juan Fuentes has narrowed it down to a group of officers and soldiers. Last June, Fuentes ordered the exhumation of Jara’s remains to determine the precise cause of death. Fuentes had interrogated a soldier who admitted he was part of a group of soldiers who fired on Jara after a sub lieutenant shot him in the head playing Russian roulette.

Fuentes wanted to know if Jara died from the shot in the head or as a product of the multiple (more than 40) bullet wounds. The remains were sent to the Genetic Institute of Innsbruck, in Austria, which confirmed that Victor Jara had been tortured and the cause of death was the massive bullet wounds in his head, chest, stomach, legs and arms.

More:
http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/chile/091205/victor-jara-presente

[emsimon33]

6. This brought tears.

What a terrible loss as were so many who were "disappeared."

[Billy Budd]

7. Those Chile Gangsters

were our employees...we are responsible for the foul gross murder of an artist...we made that happen...

[PeoViejo]

8. "living in the U.S."

They feel safe and at home.

Enjoying their reward for being good soldiers for Corporate America.

[Octafish]

9. Poppy and Kissinger also should face trial for the murder of Jara and thousands more.

DemocracyNow! details why in an excellent online archive:

http://www.democracynow.org/topics/1973_chilean_coup/2

[Tom Ripley]

13. ^^^THIS^^^

[Judi Lynn]

18. Excellent link. Looking forward to exploring such good material. Very special. Thanks. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

19. 41 years from this September 11, this Thursday. Both men, Victor Jara,

and American journalist, Charles Horman, as well as American news photographer, Frank Terrugi, all were tortured and murdered within days after that.

Most Americans still don't know about any of them, unfortunately. So sad.

Hope interested DU'ers will take the time to go to your DemocracyNow link, hear Joan Jara, widow of Victor Jara, and the following interview, another segment, with Joyce Horman, widow of US journalist, Charles Horman, whose story was told in the US movie, Missing with Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek.

[LeftishBrit]

11. Finally some justice, if too little too late.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

15. K&R. nt

[Judi Lynn]

20. Three Chilean Ex-Army Officials Charged in the Murder Case of Legendary Folk Singer Victor Jara

Three Chilean Ex-Army Officials Charged in the Murder Case of Legendary Folk Singer Victor Jara
Wednesday, 10 September 2014 14:03
By Gabriel San Roman, Truthout | News Analysis

The decades-long call for justice in the murder case of legendary Chilean folk singer Víctor Jara took another dramatic turn last week. Judge Miguel Vásquez Plaza indicted three retired ex-army officials for their roles in the brutal September 16, 1973, killing.

Hernán Chacón Soto and Patricio Vásquez Donoso face kidnapping and murder charges. Ramón Melo Silva, a former military prosecutor, stands accused of covering up the truth about what happened to Jara that day. The new charges are in addition to those brought against eight other ex-military officers in December 2012 and January 2013.

The latest news in the long march for truth arrived last week on September 4. The Chilean left remembers the day 44 years ago as an occasion for celebration. Salvador Allende, a socialist parliamentarian, won the presidential election on September 4, 1970, much to the chagrin of the Chilean upper classes and the Nixon administration. His victory marked a historic triumph through electoral democratic means, a first for a Marxist in Latin America.

Alongside Allende was a cadre of committed and talented folk singers. Víctor Jara led a bourgeoning musical movement known as Nueva Canción with poetic anthems that helped propel the politician to the presidency. His fate as a communist artist was intimately tied to that of Allende's Popular Unity coalition.

When the army staged a US-backed coup overthrowing Allende's government on September 11, 1973, Jara, alongside thousands of others, was taken captive and imprisoned at Chile Stadium in the capital city of Santiago. His wife Joan Jara and their children would never see him alive again.

More:
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/26109-three-chilean-ex-army-officials-charged-in-the-murder-case-of-legendary-folk-singer-victor-jara