The only story for young readers of the legendary Chilean
songwriter and activist who became a symbol of peace amidst the
brutality of Augusto Pinochet’s regime.
On September 11, 1973, in Santiago de Chile, Augusto Pinochet took
power and installed a dictatorship in place of the democratic
government of President Salvador Allende. That day Victor Jara, a
young songwriter and activist, poet and playwright is arrested and
imprisoned with hundreds of other people in the Santiago stadium
because of his association with the socialist opposition. His hands,
so crucial to playing music, are broken by one of Pinochet’s
soldiers. He is executed in the stadium days later, but his protest
songs will continue to resound to this day, as does his defiance in
singing, “Venceremos”--“We Will Overcome”--in the stadium.
Pinochet will die at an advanced age without having answered for his
crimes that were committed in an effort to crush dissent. But we
celebrate the brave and defiant artists and activists like Victor
Jara who help us to remember our humanity in the face of oppressive
dictatorships.
