La López Pereyra

Music piece by:
Artidorio Cresseri
Testimony by:
Germán Larrabe
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1974 - 1976

This zambaTraditional musical genre and dance from Argentina. was the first song we tried to perform in Puchuncaví, with a group made up of prisoners transferred from Chacabuco Detention Camp together with us, newly arrived 'puchuncas'.


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Published on: 05 March 2015

I would like to forget you
I find it impossible, my darling
your image haunts me
yours is my life and my love too
and when I am thoughtful and alone
I think obsessively of the falsehood 
with which you have repaid my love.

If I could have you by my side all day long
I would tell you, my dove, of my hidden loves
but this longing is useless, never, never
I live only to love you
silent and sad, and to weep, to weep.

They've told me that you don't love me
but that's no reason
you deprive me of your gaze
without it I can’t live
and I will go and hide in a forest just to weep
perhaps in my banishment
I can forget your dark eyes.

One calm night
I looked at the blue sky
contemplating the stars
I asked the loveliest of them
if it was she who shone
on your love, my love,
to beg through her
that the merciful God to give me fortitude.

Related testimonies:

  • Lament for the Death of Augusto the Dog (Lamento a la muerte del perro Augusto)  Sergio Vesely, Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975

    Augusto the dog (not to be confused with the journalist Augusto Olivares, affectionately nicknamed 'Augusto the Dog', who was murdered in the Presidential Palace on 11 September 1973), was the mascot of the political prisoners held at the Ritoque concentration camp, and accompanied his master when the military junta decided to close that prison and transfer the inmates to the neighbouring Puchuncaví concentration camp.

  • Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría)  Luis Madariaga, Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1974 - 1976

    In prison, we would sing the 'Ode to Joy' when a comrade was released or sent to exile.

  • Today Was Visitors’ Day (Hoy fue día de visitas)  Sergio Vesely, Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976

    Visitors’ day was an exceptional day that broke the monotonous routine of all the other days of the week.

  • Song of a Middle-Class Man (Canción de un hombre medio)  Sergio Vesely, Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976

    In our political discussions, we always spoke disdainfully of the middle class. In the view of the Marxist ideologues in prison, that sector of society supported the dictatorship and it was necessary to reverse that trend.

  • How Can I Describe This to You? (Cómo hacer para darte una idea)  Sergio Vesely, Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976

    This is one of two songs I wrote in prison for my beloved Graciela. In the song I tried to draw her closer to me, describing my everyday world and my experience of life as a captive.

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