Justice for Victor Jara, None
(so far) for Timor's Francisco
Borja da Costa
From
The New York Times
"Four decades
after the bullet-riddled body
of the Chilean folk singer
Victor Jara
was discovered in the mayhem
of the military coup that upended
his country, Mr. Jara’s family
found some measure of justice
on Monday in a Florida courtroom.
"A federal jury in Orlando
concluded that a former Chilean
Army officer who had emigrated
to the United States and worked
as a short-order cook was liable
for the torture and extrajudicial
killing of Mr. Jara at the Chilean
sports stadium where he was
held after the 1973 coup that
brought Gen. Augusto Pinochet
to power.
"The court
awarded Mr. Jara’s family $28
million in damages.
"The
former officer, Pedro Pablo
Barrientos, 67, a naturalized
American citizen and resident
of Deltona, Fla., near Daytona
Beach, was a defendant in
a civil suit brought under
an American law aimed at helping
victims of human rights violations
committed overseas."
Victor Jara was executed
on September 15, 1973 during
a U.S.-backed coup against the
democratically-elected government
of Salvador Allende. A poet,
theater director, folk singer,
teacher and political activist.
He was 40 years-old. Cases against
Jara's killers have also been
brought in Chile. Retired colonel
Mario Manriquez Bravo was convicted
of the killing in a criminal
case
in May 2008. In May 2009, José Adolfo Paredes
Márquez
was charged with Jara's
murder. In July 2015, a Chilean
judge charged 10 former
soldiers with Jara's murder.
Francisco Borja da Costa
was an East Timorese poet and
political activist. He wrote
in Tetum and wrote the words
to Pátria, the national
anthem of the Democratic Republic
of East Timor. He also served
as Secretary of Information
of the FRETILIN national committee.
Borja da Costa was murdered
in Dili by Indonesian troops on December 7, 1975. He was 30. The invasion was launched a day after U.S.
President Gerald Ford and Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger assured
the dictator Suharto that they
did not object and would continue
to provide weapons to the Indonesian
military.
see also
Center for Justice and
Accountability:
Jara v. Barrientos Trial in
Orlando: A Full Summary
Octavio Lisboa Octo:
Literatura do Francisco Borja
da Costa
Human Rights & Justice
page
Time
to End Impunity for Suharto's
Crimes in Indonesia and Timor-Leste
