Violeta Zúñiga

Violeta Zúñiga (April 12, 1933 - February 2, 2019) was a Chilean human rights activist who was part of the Agrupación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos (Group of Family Members of Detainees and Disappeared) during the Military Dictatorship of Chile (1973-1990) until her death.^[1] She was also a member of the folk dance group, "Cueca sola", in which she participated more than a hundred times as a dancer, commemorating those who disappeared in Chile.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]}

Violeta Zúñiga, 2017

Biography

Violeta Zúñiga Peralta was born in the town of Zúñiga, O'Higgins Region, April 12, 1933. She lived there with her parents until the age of 13, when she emigrated to Santiago. There she met her life partner, Pedro Silva Bustos, who was detained and disappeared since August 9, 1976.^[8]

Since the disappearance of Silva, Zúñiga began a tireless search for his whereabouts, going to various human rights organizations that opposed the dictatorship and who helped the victims. There, she met other women in the same situation and she decided to form the Agrupación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos, along with other members the Folkloric Ensemble of the Agrupación, who are notable for the original creation of the work La cueca sola.^[6] In 1987, Sting paid homage to the "Cueca sola" dance group with the song They Dance Alone, in which Zúñiga participated among the dancers.^[9] Also, the song was presented at the Amninstía concert in 1990. [ 16 ]

Together with Agrupación and the group "Women for Life", which included Diamela Eltit and Lotty Rosenfeld, among others, Zuniga planned and executed a series of protests and peaceful marches. She left the country twice after receiving threats of physical violence and detention.^[6]

Zuniga died February 2, 2019.

References

1. "Muere Violeta Zúñiga, la mujer que bailó sola contra la dictadura" (in European Spanish). Diario y Radio U Chile. 2 February 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
2. "La Cueca Sola". Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (in European Spanish). Retrieved 11 December 2019.
3. "Chile: Tiene más de 80 años y baila la "cueca sola" por la ausencia de su esposo". El Universo (in Spanish). 10 September 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
4. Bannister, Ramón (2004). «La cueca sola: An Ethnomusicologist's Perspective on the AFDD Conjunto». Resound: A Quarterly of the Archives of Traditional Music 23 (1-2): 1-11. ISSN 0749-2472.
5. ""El Baile de Los Cisnes": Documental conmemora 40 años de la "cueca sola"". El Desconcierto (in Spanish). 15 April 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
6. "SILVA BUSTOS PEDRO". www.memoriaviva.com. 17 July 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
7. "FOTOS - Violeta Zúñiga: el funeral de la histórica activista de la AFDD que bailaba "Cueca Sola"" (in Spanish). El.dinamo. 3 February 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
8. Ponce Villarroel, Johann Manuel (2014). «Capitulo Tercero: Hacia una resignificación de la Cueca Sola». Reconstrucción histórica de la cueca sola. Desde el imaginario social y político en Chile (1978-1990). Universidad Arcis. pp. 133-199.
9. "Chile: Dancing to protest dictatorship disappearances". NBC News. 12 September 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2019.