Testimonies

Testimonies are sorted by publication date, showing the newest first.
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Cantata Our Great Mother (Cantata Nuestra Madre Grande) - Towards the Light (Hacia la luz)

Music piece by:
Manuel Luis Rodríguez Uribe (lyrics), Fernando Lanfranco Leverton (music), Marco Antonio Barticevic Sapunar (notation)
Testimony by:
Fernando Lanfranco Leverton
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, December 1973; Cárcel de Punta Arenas, September 1975
Tags:
« Most of us, political prisoners from the Magallanes region, were transferred to the detention and torture camp on Dawson Island on 21 December 1973. We came from the more than twenty detention, torture and interrogation centres of the civil-military dictatorship in the Magallanes region. »
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Published on: 04 July 2025

Thanks to Life (Gracias a la vida)

Music piece by:
Violeta Parra
Testimony by:
Felipe Chiang Martínez
Experience in:
Regimiento de Infantería Motorizada Nº 23, Copiapó, October-December 1973
Tags:
« I was born in Vallenar, but I have lived in Copiapó practically all my life. At the age of 18, I started working in the mines and also began my political activity. »
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Published on: 29 June 2025

The Dead Man Won't Be Pinned on Me (Ese muerto no lo cargo yo)

Music piece by:
Graciela Arango de Tobón, popularised in Chile by Giolito y su Combo, and by Los Vikings 5
Testimony by:
Joaquín Real Hermosilla
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Las Bandurrias, actual Regimiento Bulnes, Coyhaique, September 1973
Tags:
« From that troubled time, I would like to remember an activity that kept us active during the harsh confinement in Las Bandurrias. It is about music, an artistic expression that revealed the talent of several political prisoners and allowed us to endure the confinement for almost six months. »
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Published on: 26 June 2025

National Anthem of Chile

Music piece by:
Eusebio Lillo and Ramón Carnicer
Testimony by:
Joaquín Real Hermosilla
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Las Bandurrias, actual Regimiento Bulnes, Coyhaique, September 1973
Tags:
« Some 30 leaders and activists from the Popular Unity parties were arrested in Coyhaique and confined in Las Bandurrias, fifteen kilometres from the city, in a compound used as a veterinary clinic for horses. »
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Published on: 23 June 2025

The Rack (El costillar)

Music piece by:
unknown. Folk tune from the south of Chile
Testimony by:
Teresa Retamal Silva
Experience in:
Cárcel de Mujeres Buen Pastor, Chillán, May 1974
Tags:
« The Cárcel Buen Pastor was a compound run by nuns. They called us political prisoners and were anxious to collect information about us to pass it on to our tormentors. »
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Published on: 13 June 2025

Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría)

Music piece by:
original by Friedrich von Schiller (lyrics) and Ludwig van Beethoven (music). Free version in Spanish by Amado Regueiro Rodríguez, aka Orbe (lyrics) y Waldo de los Ríos (music), popularised in Chile by Miguel Ríos.
Testimony by:
Irma Alvarado
Experience in:
Cárcel de Río Negro, December 1974
Tags:
« Together with two comrades, I arrived at Río Negro Prison from Chin Chin Prison in Puerto Montt. As punishment, we were sent to a storehouse where the grass was kept for the animals. We shared a small space with mice and giant spiders crawling over our beds. »
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Published on: 22 April 2025

Song to the Pampa (Canto a la pampa)

Music piece by:
poem by Francisco Pezoa Astudillo set to music by Quilapayún
Testimony by:
Renato Alvarado
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Cuatro Álamos, February 1975
Tags:
« The first song that we managed to sing was Quilapayún's setting of the poem Canto a la Pampa (Song to the Pampa), by the anarchist poet Francisco Pezoa Astudillo, which recounts one of the bloodiest episodes of the class struggle in Chile: the massacre of the Santa María school in Iquique in December 1907. »
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Published on: 02 July 2023

El bimbó

Music piece by:
Georgie Dann
Testimony by:
César Montiel
Experience in:
Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
Tags:
« I have a story about 'El bimbó', a song that shaped us in those difficult moments in Colonia Dignidad. It was a song with a tropical rhythm that was very trendy in the 1970s. It was played every day on the radio. Also on Eurovision, in European festivals, and on the TV programme 300 Million. »
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Published on: 03 July 2022

The Woman from Huillinco (La Huillincana)

Music piece by:
Liborio Bórquez Guzmán, popularised by Héctor Pavez
Testimony by:
Rubén Torres Ávila
Experience in:
Cárcel de Menores Blas Cañas / Centro de Reinserción Abierto Manuel Rodríguez, 1976
Tags:
« When I was in the last year of secondary school at the Liceo 8 in Santiago, I suggested to a teacher to do an interview with a prisoner of the youth detention centre Blas Cañas. After the interview, I offered the prison’s governor to take the school’s folk group to present a show to the inmates. »
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Published on: 18 June 2022

Under my Skin (A flor de piel)

Music piece by:
Julio Iglesias
Testimony by:
Carmen Espinoza Alegría
Experience in:
Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
Tags:
« I’m from Talca. I met César, my comrade, my love, in 1971 or 1972, approximately. We were young idealists, we were members of Juventudes Comunistas, and were student leaders in our secondary schools. »
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Published on: 18 June 2022