Ancient crimes

It’s probably coincidence, but quite a few crimes of long ago are resurfacing lately. A 92-year-old man named Siert Bruins is on trial for war crimes during World War II as a Nazi Waffen SS guard in the Netherlands. Dozens of guards at the Auschwitz-Birkenou death camp in Poland also may be put on trial, as well.

Some view such proceedings as exercises in ancient history, and the defendants as very old men and women who no longer are capable of doing anyone any harm. That may be true, but something has to be said for the vigilance being exhibited in these cases. Surely the relentless pursuit of people who committed war crimes 70 years ago has to discourage those who would consider committing similar acts today.

Closer to home, the man who killed Chilean folk singer Victor Jara (pictured above) during the military coup in 1973 faces a civil suit by Jara’s widow and daughters. The defendant, Pedro Pablo Barrientos, is now a U.S. citizen living in Florida. The New York Times has the story.

I remember the coup 40 years ago by the military against Salvador Allende, the communist president who was replaced by Augusto Pinochet, who received covert help from the United States. Allende died while defending the presidential palace; some say by his own hand, while conspiracy theorists assert he was assassinated.

The story of Chile during the Allende and Pinochet years is complicated. Pinochet’s takeover was violent, and he ruled for 17 years. Allende was properly elected president (with just 37 percent of the vote — but that was sufficient under Chilean law in 1970) before dying in the coup. But Chile arguably is better off now, in terms of standard of living, thanks to Pinochet’s reign and subsequent restoration of democratic governance. And Pinochet did leave office voluntarily in 1990, allowing democracy and the rule of law to flourish.

Dare we hope the military coup in Egypt turns out as well, in the long run, as the one in Chile did? I can’t say I’m optimistic.

Which brings us to Victor Jara, who was just 40 when he died. I had never heard of him until hearing the song “Victor Jara” by Arlo Guthrie on his 1976 album “Amigo,” which I purchased a few years after it came out.  It quickly became one of my favorite Guthrie songs, even though I had only a vague understanding of the story behind it.

According to the Times, Jara was a folk singer, college professor and theater director. His “songs of poverty and injustice remain vastly popular,” the Times’ Pascale Bonnefoy reports.

Guthrie’s version of Jara’s death Sept. 16, 1973, after his capture during the coup, is accurate:

“… They caged him in a stadium with 5,000 frightened men … They broke the bones in both his hands, they beat him on the head; they tore him with electric shocks, and then they shot him dead.” Witnesses say Barrientos decided to play Russian roulette and shot Jara in the head after spinning the chamber of his pistol. Others also fired into him. In all, his body was riddled with 44 bullets.

The action against Barrientos will take place in civil court, so he may be assessed damages but will not be imprisoned if found guilty.

Chile presents an interesting historical contrast. Allende, a Marxist, does not appear to have been inclined to commit anything like the abuses inflicted by fellow Marxists/Communists Stalin, Mao, Castro and Pol Pot on their own people. The Pinochet regime killed something like 3,000 people in its first year in power. On the other hand, Allende’s policies, including the failed program of state ownership of means of production, were devastating to Chile’s economy. We’ll never know whether Allende would have given in to the inevitable rejection of his Marxist program and allowed someone else to take over, but if he had, he’d have been one of the few Marxist or Communist leaders in history to do so. (Fidel Castro killed at least 10 times as many people as Pinochet did, and Allende considered Castro a friend.)

Interestingly, the Times refers to Victor Jara as a Communist Party member. In his song, Guthrie implies this detail but doesn’t actually say it. Certainly, that omission made the song more palatable to an American audience.

Here’s a link to a live version of the song.