Justice for Victor Jara is a victory for human rights. 43-years after he was murdered, his killer is close to facing justice in the form of extradition to Chile—there to answer the charges of war crimes. On Monday June 27, 2016, a court in Orlando held Pedro Barrientos responsible for Victor Jara’s death. The Jara family was awarded $28-million as compensation for grievous damages. As reported by Amy Goodman, The Guardian newspaper called the verdict, quote, "one of the biggest and most significant legal human rights victories against a foreign war criminal in a US courtroom," unquote.[1]

The cruelty was blatant. The act was bold, done openly for many to see. Barrientos stole the life away from Victor Jara. He did it in a stadium. Many others were killed. Then he ordered Jara’s body to be left in the streets. Such was the brazen impunity. Such was the U.S. backed power of Augusto Pinochet on September 11, 1973.[2] He was the newly installed tyrant, the dictator for life that the U.S. preferred above Salvador Allende, who was the democratically elected president of the people of Chile. Pedro Barrientos was Pinochet’s stooge.[3] Barrientos, the dictator’s lieutenant, was the heinous, unnatural thief. He murdered Victor Jara, the singer, the poet—the citizen who called out for fairness, for justice and for “The Right to Live in Peace.”[4]

Pinochet and his cronies and his henchmen, they tried to silence the voice of Victor Jara. They tried to crush the will of the people. And they killed a great many innocent people in the process. For a long time, they thought they were in the pink. But many years later, the bodies of Salvador Allende and Victor Jara were exhumed and examined. Witnesses were still alive who came forward. The boot of guilt found a perfect fit at long last on the feet of Pinochet and his goon, Pedro Barrientos! So, in the end, the voices of freedom began to echo again. “Peace!” they sang. And Justice rings sweetly in the hopeful refrain.

From Victor Jara’s song “El derecho de vivir en paz”:[5]

Indochina is the place
beyond the wide sea,
where they ruin the flower
with genocide and napalm.
The moon is an explosion
that blows out all the clamor.
The right to live in peace.

Image: Cover of An Unfinished Song: the Life of Victor Jara, by Joan Jara, his wife

[1] http://www.democracynow.org/2016/6/29/former_chilean_army_officer_found_liable
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pinochet_File
[3] http://miami.cbslocal.com/2016/06/11/ex-chilean-officer-faces-torture-trial-in-orlando/
[4] Lyrics in English: http://lyricstranslate.com/en/el-derecho-de-vivir-en-paz-right-live-peace.html
[5] Listen, the poet sings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4OaLC1erz4