The Paper Boat (El barco de papel)

Music piece by:
Julio Numhauser, popularised by the band Amerindios
Testimony by:
Carlos Muñoz
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, 1975 - 1976

One of the most important songs in the detention centres. Impossible to count how many times we sang it. Every time someone was released from a detention camp or there was credible information that a person would be sent into exile, a gigantic chorus would sing this song, in a powerful unison. No one could possibly forget it. Especially significant at Tres Álamos, as this was the “exit” camp.

If freedom was decreed when the prisoner was at another camp, the prisoner would be transferred to this detention centre. In the version sung in the camps, the verse that goes, 'se va, se va, se va y regresará' ('going away, going away, going away and will come back') was replaced by 'se va, se va, se va y no volverá' ('going away, going away, going away, never to come back').

The musical group Caliche, based in Birmingham (England) frequently sang this song at Chile solidarity events during the 1980s.


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Published on: 09 July 2015

The paper boat sets off
on the sea of hope
carrying a bunch of dreams
and children can’t reach it.

Going away, going away, going away, never to come back
going away, going away, going away, never to come back.

One passenger is a doctor
a soldier is the captain
a bourgeois is the cannon operator
and the queen is made of tar.

Going away, going away, going away, never to come back
going away, going away, going away, never to come back.

A worker climbs aboard the ship
an artist, a teacher
and also that little girl
who stayed behind on the shore.

Going away, going away, going away, and will come back
going away, going away, going away, and will come back.

Climb aboard the boat, sailor
they don’t come to fight
they are all comrades
of peace and equality.

Going away, going away, and will come back
going away, going away, towards freedom.


Related testimonies:

  • Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría)  Amelia Negrón, Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, 31 December 1975

    Preparations for that Wednesday night became more intense. It would be a different night. We women prisoners had secretly organised ourselves, but more importantly, we had also coordinated with the male prisoners.

  • Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría)  Renato Alvarado Vidal, Campamento de Prisioneros Cuatro Álamos, 1975

    Once upon a time, there was a good little wolf. … No. That’s another story.

  • The Crux of the Matter (La madre del cordero)  Servando Becerra Poblete, Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, 9 November 1973 - 10 November 1974

    I recited this poem in the National Stadium. I continued to do so in the Chacabuco prison camp, earning the nickname of “Venancio” from my fellow prisoners.

  • The Crux of the Matter (La madre del cordero)  Servando Becerra Poblete, Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, 9 November 1973 - 10 November 1974

    I recited this poem in the National Stadium. I continued to do so in the Chacabuco prison camp, earning the nickname of “Venancio” from my fellow prisoners.

  • Casida of the Dark Pigeons (Casida de las palomas oscuras)  Luis Alfredo Muñoz González, Campamento de Prisioneros Cuatro Álamos, February - March 1975

    According to scientists, memory and music processing are situated in a deep, ancestral part of the brain, where it is zealously guarded.

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