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I should elaborate, in case you doubt the accuracy of the quote in the title: The good (Victor Jara) die young (murdered in 1973 at the age of 40), assholes (Augusto Pinochet) live forever (died peacefully today
at the age of 91). Fortunately "forever" doesn't really mean forever,
and today would be a day to rejoice, were it not for the fact that
Pinochet, like the Spanish dictator Franco, was never held accountable for the crimes committed by his regime.

Today's news also serves as a reminder to those who think that
American foreign policy was all peaches before George W. Bush took
over. I am talking about people like John Kerry who said in his 2004 acceptance speech
at the Democratic National Convention: "And as president, I will bring
back this nation's time-honored tradition: The United States of America
never goes to war because we want to; we only go to war because we have
to. That is the standard of our nation." Apart from the fact that he
should know better as a Vietnam vet, the US foreign policy in many
parts of the world, and especially in Latin America, was based on
"counterinsurgency" and "low-intensity conflict" against supposedly
communist regimes, at least since the 1960s. (The time-honored
tradition of inventing new words to make people believe that there is
no war.) It certainly included overthrowing democratically elected
governments, and endorsement of torture and assassinations. The
involvement of the US government in the Chilean military coup in 1973
was pretty obvious from the start, and now you can even read the official CIA and FBI documents which prove it.

Sorry for the political rant, but I had to get this off my chest. And I will leave you with Victor Jara's classic Vietnam song El Derecho De Vivir En Paz (The Right To Live In Peace), first the original (MP3), and then an amazing instrumental cover version of it (MP3) by Ground Zero, who mashed it up with the song "Shinoshin 3/4". And here is a YouTube video of Jara singing that song in Lima, Peru, in 1972, with guest appearances of Ho Chi Minh.

At least Victor Jara will be remembered for his songs, while
Pinochet will mainly be remembered for being an asshole. Not historical
justice, but a little bit of solace.

Original WFMU's Beware of the Blog

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