President Michael D. Higgins has issued a statement on the death of Joan Jara, widow of the legendary Chilean singer Victor Jara, who was murdered by the Pinochet regime – and is remembered in story and in song.

"Victor Jara of Chile lived like a shooting star,” the songwriters Arlo Guthrie and Adrian Mitchell wrote, in the eponymous song, covered by Christy Moore on his This Is The Day album, released in 2001, "He fought for the people of Chile with his songs and his guitar.”

And then the refrain: "His hands were gentle and his hands were strong…"

President Higgins was a long-time admirer of Victor Jara, and a friend of Joan’s.

"There will be so many throughout the world,” the President said in his statement, "who will have heard with the greatest of sadness of the death of Joan Jara, widow of the great Chilean singer and poet Victor Jara, who was murdered in the stadium by the forces of Augusto Pinochet after the overthrow of Salvador Allende 50 years ago.

"I was privileged to be invited to launch Joan’s book, An Unfinished Song: The Life of Victor Jara, and to speak with her at its launch in Liberty Hall. I described it as a book of such strength as to ensure that Victor’s life in song and struggle will never be forgotten.

"While many people’s knowledge of poetry from Chile will be through the work of Pablo Neruda, in Chile itself the voice of the people was experienced through the songs and performances of Victor Jara, from the time of his first introduction to performance by Violeta Parra.”

Statement by President Higgins on the death of Joan Jara: https://t.co/KAQ37V4BxU pic.twitter.com/89LO32hEav

— President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) November 14, 2023

President Higgins travelled to Chile in 1988 as an independent observer of the first democratic post-Pinochet election in Chile – about which he wrote in his column in Hot Press.

"I recall reading Joan’s book as I travelled to Chile to serve as an international observer in the 1988 plebiscite, which led to the end of the military dictatorship led by General Pinochet,” the President said. "The book spoke of the extraordinary cruelty of the Pinochet torturers in the stadium, for example the smashing of the fingers of Victor in front of others because of his being a singer. Joan’s book did not deal of Victor’s treatment in isolation, but rather as an example of what the Chilean people in general were suffering."

"They broke the bones in both his hands and beat him on the head,” the song runs, "Tortured him with electric wires then they shot him dead.”

And then the refrain again: "His hands were gentle and his hands were strong."

"I met Joan on that same 1988 visit in Santiago, to which she had returned after Victor’s death, to continue her work in culture and particularly in dance.”

Over twenty years later, they met again.

"I had the privilege of meeting with her again,” the President explained, "in Santiago, 24 years later in October 2012, when as President of Ireland I had the honour of meeting with her following my address at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in the same city.

"Throughout her life, and in her 50 year search for justice, Joan Jara demonstrated the power and dignity of the search for truth.

"It is good that she knew before her passing of the extradition of a person involved in the torture and death of her husband,” President Higgins added.

"May I extend my deepest sympathies to Joan’s daughters Amanda Jara and Manuela Bunster, and to all of her family, friends and fellow activists across the world.”