Thousands attend funeral of Chilean singer Victor Jara
Dec 6, 2009, 11:59 GMT
Santiago - More than 36 years after he was tortured and gunned down in the days following the coup d'etat in Chile, singer Victor Jara was reburied Saturday in a ceremony attended by thousands.
Jara was shot dead by the military four days after the 1973 coup in which General Augusto Pinochet seized power. Jara, who was also a songwriter and playwright, was arrested on September 11, 1973, and taken to the Chile Stadium, where he was tortured and subsequently killed.
Jara's body was exhumed in June so that the exact circumstances of his death could be investigated.
His British-born widow Joan Turner Jara led the procession, which marked the end of a three-day tribute. A wake held Thursday was attended by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.
Many supporters carried flowers, some sang Jara's popular songs and others - who also suffered under the Pinochet regime - mourned their loss and his.
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http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/americas/news/article_1517350.php/Thousands-attend-funeral-of-Chilean-singer-Victor-Jara#ixzz0YwLJHwOt~~~~~~~~~~~~Chile's Victor Jara Beaten, Tortured Before Execution, Autopsy Says
SANTIAGO – Chilean singer-songwriter Victor Jara was beaten and tortured before soldiers of the Pinochet regime fired 44 shots into his body, court sources said Wednesday, citing the results of a fresh autopsy performed in connection with the current investigation of the Sept. 15, 1973, murder.
The report was delivered early Wednesday to the judge overseeing the probe, Juan Fuentes Belmar, the sources said.
Jara was among thousands of sympathizers of ousted Socialist President Salvador Allende rounded up and taken to Santiago’s Chile stadium in the days following Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s Sept. 11, 1973, coup.
So far, only one person has been indicted for the singer’s death: retired Col. Mario Manriquez Bravo, who commanded the makeshift prison camp at the stadium.
The autopsy determined that soldiers pummeled Jara’s hands with the butts of their rifles before shooting him 44 times in the head, chest, arms and legs.
The killing of Jara, a prominent Allende supporter, remains one of the most prominent of the atrocities committed by the 1973-1990 military regime, which is blamed for more than 3,000 deaths and some 25,000 documented instances of torture.
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