Lament for the Death of Augusto the Dog (Lamento a la muerte del perro Augusto)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
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 1973Day when the Chilean armed forces led by Augusto Pinochet overthrew President Salvador Allende.), 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.

The soldiers guarding us put up with him, although in truth they couldn’t stand the animal. They never lost an opportunity to show how much they disliked him. The situation became critical for Augusto when the soldiers realised that he had the same name as the dictator.

In vain we tried to tie him up and keep him in one of the cells. Augusto was accustomed to his freedom and wouldn’t succumb to such indignation. But his wild spirit sensed the danger and the four-legged beast infuriated the soldiers, who from then on only wanted to find and kill him.

Nobody could stop Augusto from suffering the same fate as thousands of left-wing Chilean militants. The bullet that killed him came from the gun of a Navy officer, who hours before had assured us that nothing would happen to the dog if we stopped him from crossing the fence and nosing around the Commander’s compound.

We know that Augusto didn’t leave our side that day and we have sufficient grounds to suspect that the murderer had a political prisoner in his sights when he pulled the trigger.

This lament was written in my cell the same day that Augusto died.

Victims remembered in this testimony:

Tags:

Published on: 22 June 2015

A hungry stray dog
made his home in the cell of a prisoner.
He preferred the lock-up to misery
and inadvertently fell into a mortal trap.

Shadow of love, doesn’t save you from bitterness.

Augusto the dog, a little dog without a master
you ran after a paper bone.
Prisoner of your doggy luck
cold lead they will give you to eat.

Shadow of love, doesn’t save you from bitterness.

A bullet pierced your bark
but the death from that bullet is not yours.
The corpse will remain a prisoner
alone and sad because of your disappearance.

Shadow of love, doesn’t save you from bitterness.

A swallow began to sing
a song of life.


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.

Testimonies from the Cantos Cautivos platform can be cited and shared as long as they are attributed (including the author, our project’s name and URL), for non-commercial purposes and without modifications, as per the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Authorisation is required for 1) any reuse different from citations and sharing via the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license of the platform data and its associated metadata, and 2) any use in events, concerts, plays, films, etc., of musical works written or recorded by project participants. To that end, we request that you send a proposal at least one month in advance to contact@cantoscautivos.org. For uses of musical works written or recorded by people outside the project, please contact copyright holders.