Memoria Chilena

The national library of Chile's fantastic open-source project Memoria Chilena is celebrating its tenth anniversary. The site is well worth checking out.

Image credit: Ehrmann, Hans. Víctor Jara, ca. 1970 . Disponible en Memoria Chilena, Biblioteca Nacional de Chile http://www.memoriachilena.cl/602/w3-article-75031.html .

Chile: 40 years on

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the September 11 coup in Chile and there has been a predictable flurry of memory-related stories.

Amnesty International UK is hosting an updated version of photojournalist Julio Etchart's 1988 exhibition Chile's 9/11 at the Human Rights Action Centre in Shoreditch, London, on weekdays from 9-20 September (you can see some of the images here).

Hugh O'Shaughnessy recalls witnessing the coup as a journalist in Santiago.

Joyce Horman, whose husband was killed by the military regime and became the subject of the well-known film Missing, continues to fight for justice for the disappeared. An event celebrating the judges, lawyers and human rights activists who led efforts to illuminate this dark period of history will be held at the Charles Horman Truth Foundation in New York on Monday.

Meanwhile, the family of Victor Jara has filed suit in Florida under federal laws allowing legal action against human rights violators living in the United States. The former officer accused of his murder, Pedro Pablo Barrientos, moved to the United States in 1989 and became an American citizen.

Chilean judges have made an unprecedented apology for their profession's involvement in the regime. Chilean courts rejected about 5,000 cases seeking help on locating missing loved ones abducted or killed by the authorities.

Chilean president Sebastian Pinera called for those with information about the disappeared to come forward.

Reuters and AFP also consider the legacy of the dictatorship as the anniversary approaches.  The BBC features the work of muralists who defied the regime.

Chile: From detention centre to homeless shelter

What a positive use of a place loaded with traumatic memory: the Chilean stadium where Victor Jara and other detainees were held during the Pinochet dictatorship is now a winter homeless shelter.

Around 500 people find shelter there each night, and according to AP, the number of homeless people who died on the street because of the cold fell from 150 in 2010 to 28 last year.

Check out the photo show in the Miami Herald for more:

AP PHOTOS: Chilean torture center becomes shelter (Miami Herald)

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/17/3455637/ap-photos-chilean-torture-center.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/17/3455637/ap-photos-chilean-torture-center.html#storylink=cpy

Chile: Ex-army officers charged with Jara's death

Almost 40 years after his death shortly after the 1973 coup, Chilean singer Victor Jara could finally receive justice.

A judge has ordered the arrest of eight former army officers in connection with the murder, in which Jara was shot 44 times. One of the accused, Pedro Barrientos Nunez, lives in the US and is now likely to face extradition proceedings.

Jara's case is emblematic in Chile and will give hope to other families still seeking redress for their loved ones.


Chile: Ex-army officers implicated in Victor Jara death (BBC)
Eight Are Charged With Chilean Singer’s 1973 Murder After Military Coup (NY Times)
Abogado querellante en caso Víctor Jara asegura que todo lo logrado en la investigación "ha sido obra de los jueces" (La Tercera)

Chile: Victor Jara Reburied

Legendary Chilean folk singer Victor Jara is receiving funeral honours 36 years after his death and will be reburied in Santiago tomorrow.
The musician and his broken hands became an international symbol of rejection of the Pinochet regime. Jara's widow Joan noted his iconic status;

“There’s a tendency to say, and even government leaders say this, that we’re working for justice particularly in emblematic cases,” she said.

“Victor is an emblematic case. I can have the hope that we can discover the truth and perhaps even achieve justice, that those responsible could be sentenced,” she said. “But it’s not right that so many other cases are left unresolved.”

Chile reburies slain singer Victor Jara (Hurriyet Daily News)
Chile honors famous folk singer killed in coup (AP)
Chile wake for singer Jara (BBC)
Wake Begins for Chile's Iconic Musician Victor Jara (Santiago Times)

News Round-Up

Argentina

First Argentine marine commander to land in Falklands in April 1982 arrested (Mercopress)

Chile

Chile murder mystery: Who killed Victor Jara (AP)

Peru

Estadio de San Marcos hace 20 años (PeruFotoLibre)

IACHR Calls for Justice for Victims of Force Sterilisation (IPS)

News Round-Up

From Fujimori on Trial, a quick visual overview of the twists and turns of the case - invaluable if you haven't got the time or inclination to read through hundreds of pages of documents.

Rifle Used to Kill Chile's Victor Jara Turns Up (Latin American Herald Tribune)
Interesting - but can anyone tell me how they know that it is exactly THE rifle? According to this article, it "was standard issue for the Chilean army at the time of the putsch" and "ballistics tests enabled authorities to determine what kind of weapon fired the bullets". What kind of weapon? Or which one exactly? CSI fans want to know.

10,000 Victims of Colombia's Violence to Receive Compensation Payments (Impunity Watch)

Peru Supreme Court Ratifies Guilty Verdict Against Former Chief of National Intelligence Service for La Cantuta Massacre (Peruvian Times)
Peruvian Times headlines never leave anything to add.

Chile: Jara Exhumed

A judge ordered the exhumation of iconic Chilean singer Victor Jara as part of investigations into his murder, for which a soldier was charged last week.

Chilean Singer Jara Is Exhumed (BBC)

Chile Exhumes Singer Victor Jara, Slain Under Pinochet (Latin American Herald Tribune)

Chile News

An article which links in with a previous post of mine regarding the link between El Mercurio and the Pinochet regime:
Chile: Study Shows How Leading Paper Colluded with Dictatorship (IPS)

But clearly, today's big news is the arrest of an ex-soldier in conjunction with the murder of folk singer Victor Jara, probably the most famous crime of the Pinochet dictatorship after the ousting of Allende.

The accused, Jose Adolfo Paredes Marquez, was an army conscript at the time. Naturally this puts a whole different spin on the news. As Jara's family lawyer said,

"It is not our aim to chase down conscripts, I want to make that very clear. The conscripts formed part of the larger scheme of things, but they were the weakest and most vulnerable link, and cannot be held responsible. I am interested in the chiefs that gave the orders to execute Víctor Jara," said Caucoto.

Ex-Soldier Arrested for Victor Jara Murder (IPS)

Charge over Chile Singer's Death (BBC)

Los estremecedores testimonios de como y quienes asesinaron a Victor Jara (Dirty Wars and Democracy)

How Victor Jara died, last minutes (Chile from within)