Chilean singer, teacher, theatre director, political activist and folk hero, Victor Jara was born on this day in 1932 in a small town outside of Santiago, Chile. Victor was one of the founders of the Nueva Canción Chilena (New Chilean Song) movement, which incorporated traditional Latin American folklore and music into the newer social-conscious folk music that was popular in the Americas. During the CIA backed coup of elected leader Salvador Allende, Victor Jara was arrested and detained at the Chile Stadium. Later their he was tortured and killed by armed Chilean forces that feared his popular voice. After his death the military seized all of Jara's known work and destroyed it; however Victor's widow, Joan, managed to smuggle out some of his records and writings, which inspire many Latin Americans to this day. The stadium where VIctor was detained was renamed in 1993 the "Estadio Víctor Jara Stadium" in his honor. Joe Strummer perhaps summed it up best on The Clash album Sandinista, "As every cell in Chile will tell, the cries of the tortured men, Remember Allende in the days before, before the army came, Please remember Victor Jara, in the Santiago Stadium, Es Verdad, those Washington Bullets again."
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