Chile Quotes

Sixteen-year-old Andres becomes a wanted man and the target of security forces after the driver of a car that he is travelling in is shot and his father is taken away.

“They drove under stars on a winding route that crossed and re-crossed the river. Farm hamlets lay black in sleep; copses of pine shaped the skyline. And always, against the drone of the van’s engine as it laboured through the gears, came the roar of the Maipo, amplified by the walls of the canyon.”

“Andres knew for certain that his friend Horacio was dead. The shots had pierced the side window of the car. There had been the swerve, no brakes applied, and then the ditch. Andres had been thrown clear, into the dusk of evening, but Juan, his father -they had got him, dragged him from the capsized vehicle.”

“It was not until Beto, Isa and Andres had reached the south western outskirts of the city that they heard the gunfire. Beto celebrated. ‘People are fighting back! Maybe the Resistance haas climbed out of its mothballs.”

“On the journey back to Santiago, they listened to the van radio. The military authorities had taken over all broadcasting stations. One message was repeated over and over again: the death of Miguel Alberti was a tragedy for the nation.”