El bimbó

Music piece by:
Georgie Dann
Testimony by:
César Montiel
Experience in:
Colonia Dignidad, April 1975

I have a story about 'El bimbó', a song that shaped us in those difficult moments in Colonia Dignidad. It was a song with a tropical rhythm that was very trendy in the 1970s. It was played every day on the radio. Also on Eurovision, in European festivals, and on the TV programme 300 MillionSpanish television programme that was broadcast in the 1970s and 80s..

The DINA agents played this song when they were torturing us. It was a sick joke that they were playing a happy tropical theme while they were beating us. It sounds strange, but they enjoyed it and they sang it.

If we heard them singing “El bimbó”, it was because they were beating another comrade like a bomboLarge bass drum played with a mallet, used in various regions in Latin America.. When the song began, you knew what was waiting for you.


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Published on: 03 July 2022

Let’s dance the bimbó
it’s causing a sensation
with that melody that goes
directly to your heart.

Dancing, you will sing
its romantic music
letting yourself go to the swing
of its magic rhythm.

You will see how easy it is
to dance the bimbó
following its beat
you’ll get there.

Let’s dance the bimbó
it’s causing a sensation
with that melody that goes
directly to your heart.

You will see how easy it is
to dance the bimbó
and forever its memory
will remain in you.

Related testimonies:

  • Under my Skin (A flor de piel)  Carmen Espinoza Alegría, Colonia Dignidad, April 1975

    I’m from Talca. I met César, my comrade, my love, in 1971 or 1972, approximately. We were young idealists, we were members of Juventudes Comunistas, and were student leaders in our secondary schools.

  • Under my Skin (A flor de piel)  César Montiel, Colonia Dignidad, April 1975

    At the beginning of the 1970s, I met Carmen, my comrade, my love, at the Juventudes Comunistas of Talca. We had the life of young idealists, sharing our everyday, living this revolutionary process so beautifully.

  • Swan Lake (El lago de los cisnes)  César Montiel, Colonia Dignidad, April 1975

    In Colonia Dignidad, they played Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky a lot. It was very repetitive. To several comrades, it reminds them of torture. It is not very enjoyable for us to listen to this piece at this life stage, because it transports us back to all the suffering, to what they did to us.

  • Trim the Sails (Brazas a ceñir)  César Montiel, Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975

    The Navy sailors made us sing every day, when we got up very early to raise the flag. We, as the squaddies, had to sing military songs, their songs.

  • Swan Lake (El lago de los cisnes)  Carmen Espinoza Alegría, Colonia Dignidad, April 1975

    When we arrived at Colonia Dignidad, they threw us into a shed. I despaired, took off my hood and a guard gave me a slap so hard that I fell to the ground. This was my arrival at the Colonia.

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