Soldiers shot Víctor Jara 44 times, his widow buried him in secret, and 50 years later Chile jailed his killers and Florida deported the last one

After the coup, soldiers held Víctor Jara at Estadio Chile and tortured him for days. His body was dumped near the Metropolitan Cemetery. His British widow, Joan Jara, identified him at the morgue. His body bore 44 bullet wounds, according to her book. She buried him in a hurried, clandestine ceremony in Santiago's General Cemetery and went into exile. In 2009 a judge ordered the body exhumed. Forensic findings confirmed multiple gunshot wounds. Jara was reburied after a three-day public wake, and more than 12,000 people followed the coffin. In 2013 Joan Jara and her two daughters sued former army lieutenant Pedro Barrientos in federal court in Florida, where he had lived for decades. On 27 June 2016 a jury in Orlando found him liable and awarded the family $28 million. In July 2018 a Chilean court sentenced eight retired officers to 15 years and a day. On 28 August 2023 Chile's Supreme Court upheld the convictions of seven, with sentences of 8 to 25 years. The next day retired brigadier Hernán Chacón Soto killed himself before arrest. US immigration agents arrested Barrientos in Deltona, Florida, on 5 October 2023 and deported him to Chile on 1 December 2023. Joan Jara died on 12 November 2023, aged 96. The Víctor Jara Foundation, founded in 1994, runs his musical estate.