On the anniversary of his murder in 1973 by Augusto Pinochet’s thugs, we reflect on the inspiring life and times of Chilean musician Víctor Jara.

“Life is eternal in five minutes.”

That lyric was written by Víctor Jara, who was born into biting Chilean poverty in 1932 before rising to become one of the nation's most beloved folk musicians, revered across Chile and wider Latin America.

Jara played the music of Chile's peasants and common people, and it didn't take long for him to discover another, closely related passion – socialist politics.

Having grown up at the bottom of a grossly unequal society, Jara, like tens of millions of others across 20th century Latin America, saw socialism as the way out.

And many of Víctor’s songs were brimming with this revolutionary ideology.

Chile’s Bob Dylan: The Life and Times of Victor Jara

Combining a popular, folk style fueled by progressive political messages, Víctor Jara was like a Chilean Bob Dylan or Pete Seeger.

An admirer of Che Guevara, Jara wrote Zamba del Che in 1969 – an ode to the Argentine revolutionary after his murder in Bolivia.

And the wind was blowing his way in late 1960s Chile.

In 1970, Salvador Allende was elected President at the head of a socialist Popular Unity coalition – Jara wrote the campaign’s theme song Venceremos (‘We Will Win’).

Allende had become the first democratically elected Marxist head of state in history, and he set to work on an ambitious program of social and economic reform in the interests of Chile’s poor.

There was also a cultural renaissance under the new government, with Jara as a leading figure, along with others like Pablo Neruda (the Chilean poet and Nobel Laureate).

But the good times were cut short.

On 11th September 1973, backed by Richard Nixon’s CIA, General Augusto Pinochet launched a Far Right coup d’état.

Chile’s democracy was brought to its knees.

Allende gave a defiant final address from the besieged Presidential Palace in Santiago before taking his own life, and General Pinochet’s new military regime began rounding up thousands of leftists across the country.

One of them was Víctor Jara.

Taken to a sports stadium in the capital with hundreds of other political prisoners, Chile’s Bob Dylan was beaten, tortured, and then shot dead by Pinochet’s soldiers on 16th September 1973.

As Jara’s voice fell silent, a long, dark night fell over the nation.

During Pinochet's murderous, CIA-supported tenure, thousands of other ordinary Chileans suspected of being dissidents would be similarly rounded up and "disappeared", never to be seen or heard from again.

But the people of the world didn't abandon Chile under Pinochet’s neo-fascist rule.

During the 1970s and 80s, solidarity flowed towards the country from all directions.

Radical Solidarity: The World Rises Up Against Pinochet’s Chile

Factory workers in Scotland refused to work on parts destined for Pinochet’s air force, and thousands of letters of support were written for political prisoners locked up in Chilean jail cells (including some from our very own radical co-founder Bea!).

In 1974, Bob Dylan himself joined with Bruce Springsteen, Phil Ochs and others for a benefit concert in Jara’s memory.

Che Guevara and other Latin American revolutionaries inspired a young Victor Jara - click to see our design honoring 'Comrade Che'

Faced with the enmity of the world and the unending resistance of the Chilean people, Pinochet’s dictatorship withered away in the late 1980s.

Long-Awaited Justice for Victor Jara

With democracy restored to Chile, Víctor Jara could finally be properly remembered by his compatriots.

The stadium in which he was murdered has now been renamed after him and on 3rd December 2009, Jara was at last given a full funeral in Santiago.

Thousands of Chileans attended, including President Michelle Bachelet – a socialist who herself had been tortured and exiled by the Pinochet regime.

As President Bachelet told the gathering:

“Finally, after 36 years, Víctor can rest in peace.”

Read on for more stories about international progressive heroes around the world