Chicago Committee to Save Lives in Chile Records, 1973-2009

© The contents of this finding aid are the copyright of the University of Chicago Library

Latin America

Music (excluding jazz)

Politics, Public Policy and Political Reform

Chicago and Illinois

The collection is open for research.

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Chicago Committee to Save Lives in Chile Records, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

The Chicago Committee to Save Lives in Chile (CCSLC) was a coalition of individuals and organizations that worked to restore human rights in Chile. Formed in October of 1973, as a response to the military coup in Chile, this Committee sought to influence public opinion against the dictatorship through educational events, symposiums, campaigns, and its newsletter, For a Free Chile. It sought to stop all funding to the Junta provided by private bank loans, and U.S. military and economic aid. It also promoted a boycott of Chilean products until human rights abuses would stop and democracy was restored.

A few months after the military coup, the Committee invited Hortensia Allende, the widow of President Salvador Allende, to speak at DePaul University. On December 16, 1973, Hortensia Allende denounced the CIA’s involvement in the military overthrow of Chile before a crowd of about 3,500 people. Two months later, Doris Strieter, the chair of the Committee, visited Santiago, Chile, for a week along with a group composed of professors, trade unionists, students, and clergy. In February of 1974, the Chicago Commission of Inquiry, as it was called, reported the military Junta’s campaign of terror, cases of politically motivated detention, and use of torture in Chile. This commission’s findings can be found in the publications included in this collection.

In the following years, the Chicago Committee to Save Lives in Chile hosted numerous conferences, rallies, and events regarding Chile and human rights abuses until the early 1980s. Professor John Coatsworth, then at the University of Chicago, served as the co-chair of the Chicago Committee to Save Lives in Chile from 1979 to 1982. He hosted a few events for the Committee in his Hyde Park home. Later, Coatsworth would also serve as the vice-president for the Pablo Neruda Cultural Center and the Board of Advisors. Doris Strieter also served in the Board of Advisors for the Pablo Neruda Cultural Center.

A few members of the Chicago Committee to Save Lives in Chile, who had organized artistic events, created the Pablo Neruda Cultural Center (PNCC) in 1979. Named after the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda it sought to promote Latin American and Latino cultural activities. The Center organized concerts, poetry readings, film showings, and lectures to broaden the development of contemporary Latino art and culture in Chicago and the United States. In 1981, the PNCC was incorporated into the State of Illinois and obtained a nonprofit status two years later. A political exile of Chile and vice chair of the CCSLC, Nery Barrientos became the President of PNCC and held that position until 1984. The PNCC planned numerous events and concerts throughout the year with groups such as Quilapayún, Tito Fernández, Mercedes Sosa,Inti-Illimani, Congreso, as well as other musicians. These musicians were part of the Nuevá Cancion Chilena (New Chilean Song) movement and genre that incorporated political lyrics with traditional Andean instruments to advocate social change. From 1986 to 1991, under the leadership of Rodrigo del Canto, who worked for the City of Chicago, the PNCC expanded its budget by applying to grants from the city and other organizations.

The Chicago Committee to Save Lives in Chile Records include organizational records, newspapers and clippings, publications, photographs, and promotional material for cultural programming, dating from 1973 to 1992. The materials in the collection encompass three continents: North America, South America, and Europe with materials in several languages including French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. The records document a vast network of organizations, activists, and artists that responded to the political situation in Chile following the military coup in 1973. As the following materials prove, the Chicago Committee to Save Lives in Chile was one of various organizations that mobilized support for Chilean exiles and public opinion against the Junta.

The collection is organized into five series.

Series I, Organizational Records, is divided into two subseries. The first subseries, Chicago Committee to Save Lives in Chile, contains meeting minutes, financial and event planning documents, and correspondence from religious, community, and labor organizations from 1973 to 1983. The second subseries, Pablo Neruda Cultural Center, contains meeting minutes, financial documents, grant applications, and planning event notes from 1981 to 1992.

Series II, News Clippings and Newsletters, contains clippings of articles about Chile and about the activities of the Committee and Cultural Center. It also includes the newsletter produced by the Committee, For a Free Chile, and newsletters from similar organizations across the United States and Europe.

Series III, Articles, Statements, and Publications, is divided into three subseries. Subseries 1, Articles, contains documents that were written regarding Chile, human rights, and music from 1971 to 2009. Subseries 2 contains statements by religious organizations, scholars, labor unions, the City of Chicago, and United Nations regarding Chile from 1975 to 1986. Subseries 3, Publications, contains books, booklets, and pamphlets regarding human rights, the military Junta, and academic freedom in Chile from 1973 to 1986.

Series IV, Events, contains flyers, conference programs, and planning notes for events, particularly conferences and concerts from 1973 to 1992.

Series V, Buttons, Photographs, and Posters, contains materials promoting and documenting events between 1973 and 1991. It is divided into three subseries.

The first subseries, Buttons, contains five buttons from the Pablo Neruda Cultural Center.

The second subseries, Photographs, contains forty photos and two negative strips. There are twenty-five photos from protests in the streets of Chile; one from September 11, 1973; seven photos of the Chicago Committee to Save Lives in Chile. It also includes seven photos from the Pablo Neruda Cultural Center: one from the Velada Cultural in 1982; a photo of Inti-Illimani; a photo of the Quilapayún concert in 1979; and a photo of an event hosted in honor of Eduardo Galeano in 1988.

The third subseries, Posters, contains twenty one posters from 1974 to 1991. These posters are largely from rallies, music events, or conferences and they are organized by size and date.

The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:

• Names
  • Chicago Committee to Save Lives in Chile
  • Chile
  • Pablo Neruda Cultural Center
• Subject
  • Human Rights -- Chile
  • Folk Music -- Chile
  • Chile -- History -- Coup d'état, 1973