Testimonies

Testimonies are sorted by publication date, showing the newest first.
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The Rack

Music piece by:
unknown. Folk tune from the south of Chile
Testimony by:
Teresa Retamal Silva
Experience in:
Cárcel de Mujeres Buen Pastor, Chillán, May 1974
Tags:
« The Cárcel Buen Pastor was a compound run by nuns. They called us political prisoners and were anxious to collect information about us to pass it on to our tormentors. »
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Published on: 13 June 2025

Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría)

Music piece by:
original by Friedrich von Schiller (lyrics) and Ludwig van Beethoven (music). Free version in Spanish by Amado Regueiro Rodríguez, aka Orbe (lyrics) y Waldo de los Ríos (music), popularised in Chile by Miguel Ríos.
Testimony by:
Irma Alvarado
Experience in:
Cárcel de Río Negro, December 1974
Tags:
« Together with two comrades, I arrived at Río Negro Prison from Chin Chin Prison in Puerto Montt. As punishment, we were sent to a storehouse where the grass was kept for the animals. We shared a small space with mice and giant spiders crawling over our beds. »
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Published on: 22 April 2025

Song to the Pampa (Canto a la pampa)

Music piece by:
poem by Francisco Pezoa Astudillo set to music by Quilapayún
Testimony by:
Renato Alvarado
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Cuatro Álamos, February 1975
Tags:
« The first song that we managed to sing was Quilapayún's setting of the poem Canto a la Pampa (Song to the Pampa), by the anarchist poet Francisco Pezoa Astudillo, which recounts one of the bloodiest episodes of the class struggle in Chile: the massacre of the Santa María school in Iquique in December 1907. »
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Published on: 02 July 2023

El bimbó

Music piece by:
Georgie Dann
Testimony by:
César Montiel
Experience in:
Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
Tags:
« 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 Million. »
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Published on: 03 July 2022

The Woman from Huillinco (La Huillincana)

Music piece by:
Liborio Bórquez Guzmán, popularised by Héctor Pavez
Testimony by:
Rubén Torres Ávila
Experience in:
Cárcel de Menores Blas Cañas / Centro de Reinserción Abierto Manuel Rodríguez, 1976
Tags:
« When I was in the last year of secondary school at the Liceo 8 in Santiago, I suggested to a teacher to do an interview with a prisoner of the youth detention centre Blas Cañas. After the interview, I offered the prison’s governor to take the school’s folk group to present a show to the inmates. »
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Published on: 18 June 2022

Under my Skin (A flor de piel)

Music piece by:
Julio Iglesias
Testimony by:
Carmen Espinoza Alegría
Experience in:
Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
Tags:
« 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. »
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Published on: 18 June 2022

Under my Skin (A flor de piel)

Music piece by:
Julio Iglesias
Testimony by:
César Montiel
Experience in:
Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
Tags:
« 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. »
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Published on: 18 June 2022

Swan Lake (El lago de los cisnes)

Music piece by:
Piotr Ilich Tchaikovski
Testimony by:
César Montiel
Experience in:
Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
Tags:
« 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. »
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Published on: 18 June 2022

Trim the Sails (Brazas a ceñir)

Music piece by:
Luis Mella Toro
Testimony by:
César Montiel
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975
Tags:
« 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. »
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Published on: 18 June 2022

Swan Lake (El lago de los cisnes)

Music piece by:
Piotr Ilich Tchaikovski
Testimony by:
Carmen Espinoza Alegría
Experience in:
Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
Tags:
« 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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Published on: 18 June 2022