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