Cantos Cautivos
They Say the Homeland Is (Dicen que la patria es)
- Music piece by:Chicho Sánchez Ferlosio
- Testimony by:Sergio Reyes Soto
- Experience in:Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, 1973 - 1974
This song, like so many others, was not at all “captive”. The revolutionary songs we sang behind bars imbued us with a sense of freedom.
I sang this song often because it accurately described our situation. The words plead to soldiers not to fire against their own people. Rarely did this occur in Chile, but we shared our prisoners’ barracks, called Remo, with three members of the Air Force.
Freedom songs travelled with those who sang them. This song travelled from Pudeto Military Base in Punta Arenas, to Dawson Island, to the Municipal Stadium occupied by the Air Force, and then to the Punta Arenas Jail. However, I don’t recall singing it much at the Cochrane Military Base next to Los Ciervos River, to the south of Punta Arenas.
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Published on: 07 September 2015
a gun and a flag
my homeland is my brothers
who work the land.
My homeland is my brothers
who toil the earth
while here they teach us
how to kill at war.
Oh, I won’t shoot, no
Oh, I won’t shoot, no
Oh, I won’t shoot at my brothers.
Oh, if I were to shoot, yes
Oh, if I were to shoot, yes
against those who choke the people with their bare hands.
If my brother raises himself up
when I am in the regiment
I take the gun and blanket
and I take for the hills with him.
The war they so fear
doesn’t come from foreign lands
these are strikes just like those
the miners won.
Oh, I won’t shoot, no…
Officers, officers
you are so brave
we’ll see if you are still brave
when our day comes.
The war they so fear
doesn’t come from foreign lands
these are strikes just like those
the workers won.
Oh, I won’t shoot, no…
They train us to fight
against workers
may lightning strike me
if I attack my comrades.
Related testimonies:
- National Anthem of Chile Eduardo Ojeda, Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, September 1973
We arrived at Dawson Island on the afternoon of
11 September . All we knew was that we had been arrested in the morning - nothing else. - Far Away (Tamo daleko) Eduardo Ojeda, Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, 1973
At Compingin Camp on the island, Mario started telling us about the Spanish lyrics of the Yugoslav song 'Tamo daleko'. The song was not Croatian: it was Serbian.
- Let’s Break the Morning (Rompamos la mañana) María Soledad Ruiz Ovando, Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, 1973 - 1974
Music was very important for us (my mother Sylvia, my sister Alejandra and myself) while my dad, Daniel Ruiz Oyarzo, 'el Negro Ruiz', was imprisoned during the dictatorship, when Alejandra was seven and I was four.
- Go Tell It to the Rain (Ve y díselo a la lluvia) Eduardo Ojeda, Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, 1973
We had a comrade who sang beautifully. He was called Peye and was a student at the State Technical University.
- Balderrama Eduardo Ojeda, Campamento de Prisioneros Isla Dawson, 1973
We arrived at Camp Compingin on Dawson Island on the afternoon of
11 September . We knew that we had been arrested that morning, and we knew nothing else yet.
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