In September 2023, the Víctor Jara Intercommunal Flood Park received the largest monument ever made in Chile as a tribute to the legacy of the artist, Víctor Jara. For International Human Rights Day, December 10, the municipality of San Joaquín organized a reserved ceremony to inaugurate the sculpture, where the sculptor of the important work was not invited. In the first instance, the municipality announced through its website that the official inauguration would take place on January 6, however, the event was postponed, it will finally take place this Saturday, March 16.
The twelve-ton work of travertine marble, made by Óscar Plandiura, is not only composed of the figure of Víctor Jara, but is accompanied by a group of three children along with a quilter dog, alluding to the popular vocation and vision of the future that the artist murdered during the dictatorship had.
Months before the social outbreak that began on October 18, 2019, during the government of Sebastián Piñera, an important part of the financing to build the monument was approved. In addition, the budget was supplemented with the help of the Municipality of San Joaquín, led at that time by former mayor Sergio Echeverría, who went with the sculptor to buy the marble in the north of the country.
However, after the recent installation of the monument, Plandiura accuses irregularities during the final process of making the sculpture. It is “incomprehensible that when the government of Gabriel Boric and the new mayor of San Joaquín Cristóbal Labra took office and even though the work was 80% completed, the financing was canceled, despite the commitment to inaugurate the monument on the 16th. September 2023, the date on which the 50 years of the cruel murder of the popular singer-songwriter were commemorated,” he noted.
“After more than 3 years of inexcusable abandonment of the monument, and after the death of Joan Jara, a situation that led to countless complaints, claims and expressions of rage, the authorities decide to finish financing the monument and inaugurate the work, but with the condition that it will undergo modifications, one of them, the most unusual, that the group of children with the dog sculpted in marble, could not form part of the monument. The reason given by the left-wing mayor himself; “The representation of a group of students accompanied by a little dog was an open apology for violence,” added the sculptor.
A monument of two sculptures
On the other hand, former mayor Sergio Echeverría recalled that the idea of the monument to Víctor Jara arose from the renovation of the axis that crosses Macul, San Joaquín, San Miguel, Pedro Aguirre Cerda and Santiago Centro. The objective was to allow citizens of the central-southern area of the capital access to a high-standard park, so it was decided to name the space in honor of Víctor Jara due to his commitment to the popular sectors. After a long wait, during the second government of former President Michelle Bachelet, the park was renamed and a monument was proposed, a project that had the support of the singer-songwriter’s family and foundation.
Finally, in January 2020, the stone was purchased to make the monument. The former mayor said that at that time conversations arose with the sculptor to make a larger installation that would include a second sculpture.
“Two ideas arose, first that a much larger installation could be made with a second sculpture and also the idea that together with that second sculpture we could work on the idea of a grand opening in a very interesting urban space, we were aware that a high-standard urban space was going to be delivered and it was also going to be the most relevant monument that Víctor Jara was going to have not only in Santiago but on the planet,” Echeverría explained.
“With that enthusiasm and with the very affectionate support of the foundation and the family, we began to work on the idea of a second sculpture. We always proposed to the sculptor that a very interesting idea is the population, which is always associated with the children and also to the popular world, of which the quilter is a symbol of Chile in the 60s,” he added.
In that sense, he recalled that he showed him the sketches but “at that time there was an issue, which was whether or not the dog was wearing a scarf and because it is clearly associated with the figure of the matamaco. “Without a scarf is associated with the population that is part of the history of Chile.”
“The opinion I gave to the sculptor was that no political authority can censor a sculptor, that is absurd, but what I do believe is that if he wears a scarf that will be associated with the matacapaco and that is restricting the figure of Víctor Jara. The depth of Víctor Jara’s work in theater, in music, in the performing arts in general is of such depth that it is necessary to restrict the second sculpture to the famous matapaco. “I told him that it was not convenient because in my opinion Víctor Jara can reach the height of Violeta Parra, who is a symbol of all Chileans,” said the former mayor.
Complaint
Along the same lines, Plandiura accuses “suffering the suspension of owed payments, pressure from a former minister, the left-wing mayor Cristóbal Labra, and even MOP% authorities, all delirious demanding to modify the monument , some asking to eliminate the children, others to eliminate the dog, and others to modify the texts inscribed on the pedestals of the statues.”
“How is it possible that this diversity of authorities does not know that they cannot, nor do they have the power to modify a work located in public space approved by the National Monuments Council. All of them, due to ignorance or abuse of power, by virtue of the position they hold, committed censorship of a public monument approved by the competent institutions. It is important to note that the Monument, with all the elements described above, is approved by the National Monuments Council. (ORD: 1341 – March 24, 2022)”, said the sculptor.
Finally, the artist stressed that “the ‘modified’ Monument to Víctor Jara is inaugurated privately, with 45 guests, without press or publicity, nor the presence of the family and without having invited the sculptor who created the work, to the 10:00 in the morning on Sunday, December 10, leading the inauguration the same mayor who did the impossible to prevent this tribute from taking place, not considering the relevance and deep meaning of this monument. In fact, a second, more massive inauguration scheduled for January 6, was suspended by Mayor Labra himself at the last minute, arbitrarily, generating frustration among hundreds of people, who arrived that day and demonstrated helplessly on social networks. in the face of the untimely suspension and the outrage to the figure of our great Víctor Jara.”
Additionally, until the closing of this report, the councilor and president of the municipality’s Culture, Arts, Heritage and Education commission, Gustavo Arias, has not responded to the questions sent through this medium. On the municipality’s website, a news item was published on December 11, after International Human Rights Day, where the tribute paid to Víctor Jara was reported but it was also stated that “The monument will be officially inaugurated on January 6, 2024.” ”.
The vision of the family and the Víctor Jara Foundation
The singer-songwriter’s daughter and president of the Víctor Jara Foundation, Amanda Jara, said that during the process of making the sculpture she went to visit Plandiura’s workshop, who explained to her what image Jara was trying to project.
“We as a family and as a Foundation were not interested in a work by Victor on a single plinth, but rather it was a work of sculptural space rather than a monument,” said Amanda Jara.
“Óscar presented us with the photo he wanted to take and it was an image that was taken in a town in Víctor with the children there and we loved the idea. We imagine the little goats playing there, not a cult of personality, but u“a sculptural space where even boys and girls could recognize each other,” he added.
In that sense, Amanda Jara maintains that it is important that Víctor Jara was not represented alone, but that he included the children with the quilter.
In relation to the inauguration that took place on December 10, Amanda Jara indicated that she did not attend because she was invited two days in advance.
“They told me about two days before and I couldn’t participate because I had another agenda, let’s say, no and I couldn’t participate so I told him that I hope that there will be a popular inauguration for the neighbors and I was working on that and the second date came up, which was January 6,” he said.
Although the sculpture of the dog does not wear a scarf, on specific occasions people have approached the monument and hung a red scarf made of cloth on it.
Furthermore, regarding the red scarf he said that “the neighbors can do whatever the neighbors want, I don’t see that they have vandalized the work. They are expressing something there that would be interesting for the municipality to ask the neighbors what they mean by that. Let someone put a puppy’s handkerchief on him, what can we do? TOFurthermore, this work has been promoted by the neighbors, they were the ones who began to pressure so that the esplanade where they were going to carry out these improvement works was more beautiful. The neighbors organized themselves and began to promote this idea of a tribute to Víctor Jara, which is also part of the history of San Joaquín, so they felt that it was completely logical that there was a tribute to my father there.”
Lastly, he stressed that “My greatest wish is that this work, which is also beautiful, is inaugurated as it should, openly with the little goats, with young people, with the old people, and the little dogs. That would be nice and for it to be inaugurated with music and dance, that is what I want and what we want at the Foundation, in the end public spaces are made for that.”