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Horacio Carabantes Olivares, my brother, was locked up in January 1975 at the Maipo regiment of Valparaíso, with a large group of male and female prisoners, all arrested by the DINA(National Intelligence Directorate) Secret police of Pinochet’s dictatorship between 1974 and 1977..

One day an officer approached the group and asked, in a confrontational tone, who could sing. Horacio, who had sung with a gorgeous voice since childhood, replied saying: I can sing.

The officer commanded him to do so. So my brother raised his voice and sang 'Zamba de mi esperanza' ('Zamba of my Hope').

A month later, on 20 February 1975, Horacio along with other inmates – male and female – disappeared from Villa Grimaldi, in Santiago, after being passed around different clandestine detention centres. He had recently turned 22 years old.

Some of the survivors have told this story, stressing the significance of that action by Horacio, who in the midst of interrogation and torture did not lose his nerve but took the opportunity to give his comrades a sign of hope.

• Carabantes, Horacio