Anthem of Puchuncaví (Himno de Puchuncaví)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely

A few weeks before being transferred to Valparaíso Jail - where I would face a war council on account of alleged violations of the State Interior Security Law and other military regulations that existed during the state of siege - I wrote a song that I called anthem, because I wanted it to be sung as a group at the end of our cultural events on Fridays.

The song was written so that every prisoner, regardless of political affiliation, could sing it. The only way to strengthen prisoners’ unity was to realise that all of us lived in the same conditions.

From what other prisoners have said, we know that the 'Himno de Puchuncaví' continued to be sung in the detention camp, both at the Friday cultural events as well as in everyday prison life – even after I was transferred to Valparaíso Jail.

The version I recorded for the album Documento (1986) includes an instrumental introduction, inspired by the tune of an anthem sung in a concentration camp in the first years of Nazism in Germany.

That song was called 'Die Moorsoldaten' ('Soldiers of the mud'), which prisoners of the Burgermoor concentration camp sang during their backbreaking working days.


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Published on: 22 June 2015

From the Andes peaks
crossing central valleys
pampas, wetlands
they come from everywhere.

They are like the shine of golden copper
braided legs, hands that plough the field
dreamers, carved bodies
they come from everywhere.

They search for lost streets
their barefoot voices, songs of life
they have loves, they don’t forget them
they come from everywhere.

They speak of history but have no past
rock upon rock they were forged
they want to be wind, they want to be water
they come from everywhere.

Similar 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.