'Joan Baez received death threats, and was banned, persecuted' : Julio Emilio Moliné, co-director of the documentary 'Joan Baez in Latin America: There but for fortune (1981)' / book INTERVIEWS by Viviana Marcela Iriart (2025)

Joan Baez , May 1981 ©Julio Emilio Moliné

After that historical tour in which Joan Baez terrified dictators from Argentina, Chile and Brazil so much that they threatened to kill her and banned her from singing, among other things, the mythical singer-songwriter and pacifist will perform in March in the same countries in which her voice made perpetrators of genocide falter in 1981.

Thank you Joan Baez, for the brave and affectionate 1981 tour to bring comfort, joy and hope to the victims of the Pinochet, Videla, and Joao Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo dictatorships.

Thank you Joan Baez, because despite receiving death threats and being banned and persecuted, she stayed at our side, sang to us, and showed the world the horror of dictatorships in the wonderful documentary 'Joan Baez in Latin America: There but for Fortune.'

Thank you Joan Baez  for giving victims a face and a voice, and restoring their humanity.

Thank you Joan Baez for condemning the crimes committed by both right-wing and left-wing dictatorships, as well as democracies.

Thank you  Joan Baez for defending human rights, for opposing wars, arms build-up, discrimination, totalitarianism.

Thank you  Joan Baez for showing me, when I was 16 years old, the meaning of non-violence and its difference with passivity.

Thank you Joan Baez because your fight is not limited to singing and talking to the press, as the documentary and this interview (among many other facts) demonstrate.

Thank you Joan Baez for your voice, which soothes all pain.

Thank you  Joan Baez for showing the way and being a banner but also doubt.

And thank you Julio Emilio Moliné for sharing some of your memories and photos from that brave tour of Joan Baez in Latin America… here, fortunately.

How did you become part of the tour of philanthropic activities and concerts Joan Baez did in 1981 across Latin America to show her support for the victims of dictatorships there?

One Monday morning at the end of April 1981 I got a call at work (I had a job at a TV station) from my friend John Chapman, an independent filmmaker from San Francisco.  He told me: 'Hey, would you like to go on a Latin American tour with Joan Baez for a month?  We can film it and make a documentary.'

Given that I speak Spanish, and I had lived in Chile for many years and had traveled around Argentina, John thought I would be a good partner for this adventure.  Being a little older than me, he had worked in Apocalypse Now with Francis Coppola and had fallen in love with cinema during that experience.  I said yes without hesitation, though I had no holidays and I needed to get an unpaid leave at work.

Another setback was that my wife was pregnant, and our daughter was expected to be born during the tour, so I had to ask her whether she thought this was a good idea.  She generously said yes.  And our daughter Andrea was born while we were in Buenos Aires interviewing a journalist from the New York Times.

That Monday when I received John's call, we met Joan in the evening at a Chinese restaurant  in Palo Alto.   Joan gave me the go-ahead, and we started the required paperwork.

What was you impression of Joan Baez?

I remember being a little shocked at the fact that I was eating Chinese rice with such a famous person.  Besides being a very attractive woman, she was very friendly and warm.  She asked us a lot of questions about Latin America, some very well-informed and others less so, and she paid for the meal.

She made a very good impression on me, because of her kindness and good sense of humor.

On what day did the tour begin?

On May 3, 1981, John and I met with Joan and Jeannie in México City, where we interviewed the Argentinian doctor (the dictatorship had caused great suffering to her family), and that evening Joan gave a concert where we had the chance to try the equipment.

The next day we set off to Argentina, where we stayed until May 15, when we crossed the Andes in our way to Chile.  There we stayed in Santiago until May 19, when we set off to Brazil.   We spent a few days in São Paulo and Rio, and then headed off to Nicaragua.  After that, Joan and Jeannie went alone to Venezuela.

That tour was recorded—except for the trip to Venezuela and Nicaragua—in the wonderful documentary 'Joan Baez in Latin America: There but for fortune.'  Who had the idea of making it? What was the purpose? How was it funded?

The main driving force of the documentary was John Chapman, who convinced Joan of the historical value of recording her tour.   Much of the funding came from Diamonds & Rust, Joan's company in California.  My salary was paid by KTEH TV, the TV station I worked for in San Jose.  When I asked for an unpaid leave to travel around Latin America with Joan and film, Peter Baker, my executive producer, convinced Maynard Orme, the station manager, that this was an idea they needed to support.  It was an act of courage that is rarely seen nowadays, because I had been working there for less than a year (and was only 27 years old).  KTEH also lent the filmmaking equipment, and paid the post-production and editing costs. 

Tragically, John died in an accident in 1983, less than a year after finishing the documentary. 

Do you think Joan Baez imagined she would receive death threats, bombs, tear gas and censorship of her concerts in the three countries?

No. She thought it would be difficult but never to such an extreme.  The person who sparked the idea of making the tour in Joan was the Chilean writer Fernando Alegría, who was a Literature professor in Stanford.    He believed things were waning a bit in the Southern Cone, and that Joan's visit would inject a lot of energy into Latin American people, especially those who were protesting against dictatorships.

(...) 

Excerpt from the book INTERVIEWS by Viviana Marcela Iriart.

NTERVIEWS, with graphic design by Jairo Carthy, 

is available on  AMAZON in paperback and ebook versions.

JULIO CORTÁZAR and the cultural exile in INTERVIEWS, book by Viviana Marcela Iriart: "I'm in exile, but on the other hand, in my country, there are 26 million exiles in relation to us"

"What for me is and has been traumatic, is a phenomenon in which not everyone thinks, and in the case of an exiled artist it's fundamental. It's what I would call cultural exile: it's terrible when you realize that in your own country there is a barrier of censorship that means, for example, that I can not publish more books in Argentina. Then the realization – and this is frightening for me – I'm in exile, but on the other hand, in my country, there are 26 million exiles in relation to us. I am separated from my readers, but my readers are separated from me: my last book of stories in Argentina could not get published because there were two stories that angered the Junta. And this is not just a personal matter: there are 150 magnificent Uruguayan, Chilean and Argentine writers that cannot be published in our country.

In Chile, starting on September 11, 1973 , a young generation was taken by the Junta and enrolled in fascist schools run by the military. Six years have passed and they have lived the critical age (between 12 and 18) under that regime, thousands and thousands of children and Chilean girls who, right now, believe in the Junta, believe the in the national security state, believe that all of us are traitors. They believe that Chile is a country unjustly attacked and threatened. It's not their fault, poor things, because in six years they have become the same thing that Hitler did with the Hitler Youth, or Mussolini with the "balillas". Well, that is for me one of the most frightening things, and we can do nothing, intellectually. Because here I can tell you this, but no one will listen in Argentina, nobody will read it, you can publish it but unless someone carries it in their pocket, no one can read it there. "

Excerpt from the book INTERVIEWS by Viviana Marcela Iriart

Available for sale on Amazon

A DOOR OPEN TO THE SEA , play by Viviana Marcela Iriart: excerpt

 

The stage is barely lit. “Porque vas a venir” (Because you’re coming), a song by Carmen Guzmán and Mandy, sung by Susana Rinaldi, is played until the characters speak. 

Dunia enters from the right side. She is excited and nervous. She sits down, stands up, walks from side to side. She is thrilled. She can barely hold her laughter. 

Sandra appears on the left side. She is nervous and excited, but she moves slowly, in a controlled way. She stops at the large window, which is softly lit with a warm glow. She looks inside but sees no one: Dunia has left the stage at that point. She moves towards the proscenium. Dunia enters and does not see her. She goes to the proscenium. 

Until indicated, Sandra and Dunia behave as if they were in a dream. They never touch or look at each other. When they speak, it seems like they are talking to themselves. 

SUSANA RINALDI

“Because you’re coming my old house

unveils new flowers throughout the railing.

Because you're arriving, after so long,

I cannot tell if I'm crying or laughing.

 

I know you're coming, though you didn't say it,

but you'll arrive one morning.

There's a song in my voice, I'm not so sad,

and a ray of sunlight is coming through my window.

 

Because you're arriving, after a long journey,

there's a different hue, a different landscape.

Everything shines a different light and has changed its way,

because you're arriving after all.

 

Because you’re coming, from so far away,

I've looked at myself in the mirror once again.

And how will they see me, I asked myself,

the eyes of this day I was waiting for.

Because you're arriving I wait for you,

because you love me and I love you.

Because you're arriving I wait for you,

because you want it

and I want it too.”

SANDRA (As if she were alone, without noticing Dunia)
And then I thought, will she have changed much? Have I changed so much?

DUNIA (With the same attitude as Sandra)
I was waiting impatiently. I looked at myself in the mirrors and wondered what look you’d give to these wrinkles that have surrounded my eyes without yours. Would you recognize me with these gray hairs I didn't tell you about?

SANDRA
The street in front of your house seemed to be the same. The orange tree in the corner where the greengrocer's was, the paving stones at Don Giuseppe’s store - still broken -, the magnolia tree that would never bloom. But above all, the smell of the orange tree announcing your house was nearby. It all looked the same.

DUNIA

Your voice on the phone, cheerful and teasing, here and not there once again, the same old voice, and I swear I could have eaten up the receiver to eat your voice so that you’d never be gone again.

SANDRA (She turns her back on her)

I admit it - I was scared. The doorbell was there, tiny and glossy. It looks like a nipple, I thought, a nipple inviting the erotic—but no, this little nipple-doorbell was inviting me to the past and I was saying: should I touch it, should I not? I would stretch a finger and stroke it slowly, without pressing, in case I could excite it and make it ring. My finger was bringing you back to my memory.

DUNIA (She turns her back on her)
I looked at you through the peephole, which of us did I see? Years flashed by in the glass eye and did not let me see you.

SANDRA (She comes forward slowly with her back to Dunia)
My finger was still on the doorbell. A door was coughing weakly and I listened to it. The little moaning nipple would not need to be touched. I crossed the doorstep and rested my chest, my whole body, on the door.

DUNIA (She comes forward slowly with her back to Sandra)
I saw you and I pressed my body on the exact same place as you had placed yours. A door divided us and bound us. I was drowning and I thought: there’s no shore near here or any lifeguard in this place.

SANDRA
Your breathing in my ear was suffocating me, it didn't let me think. I was going crazy, I was fainting.

DUNIA
The air from your mouth made me warm, and I was getting filled with sweet old memories. The air from your mouth was burning me, immolating me.

SANDRA (Stands very close to Dunia’s back, without touching it)
Your fingers scratching the wood, scratching and moaning like a stray cat about to give birth to dead memories.

DUNIA
I felt you were sliding down the door to the floor and I reached out to stop you from hitting it.

SANDRA
Your back was sticking into mine, piercing me. I felt pain, I felt pleasure.

DUNIA

You were crying—and you never cried—in a way that was new to me.

SANDRA
You were crying and in your tears was the same old pain I always remembered.

DUNIA
I heard you say: you’re back at last.

SANDRA
And I heard you answer: at last I’ve returned.

(...)

A DOOR OPEN TO THE SEA by Viviana Marcela Iriart

Dr. Susana D. Castillo, University of San Diego, United States:

“…...the play explores the uprooting of its two characters on different levels. On one level, the play deals with the anxious reunion of two women separated for ten years…

Aptly, the initial encounter is choreographed as a slow dance in which the two women try to find each other—as if in a mist—while simultaneously suppressing the outward expression of their conflicting emotions… Thus, they will move—with caution and restraint—from reminiscence to laughter, from song to nostalgia, from distance…to the tango!...

(...) It is worth adding that Viviana Marcela Iriart—novelist and journalist—sought refuge in the Venezuelan Embassy at the age of 21, a period that marked the beginning of her exile, which would take her to various parts of the world before she settled in Venezuela…”

Available for sale on Amazon

 

Viviana Marcela Iriart (1958) is an Argentine-Venezuelan writer, playwright, and interviewer.

She has published "La Casa Lila" ( novel), "Interviews" (interviews with cultural figures, in English), and "¡Bravo, Carlos Giménez!" (biography). She compiled the free-to-read book "María Teresa Castillo-Carlos Giménez-Festival Internacional de Teatro de Caracas 1973-1992", a collaborative work with José Pulido, Rolando Peña, Karla Gómez, Carmen Carmona, and Roland Streuli.

"A DOOR OPEN TO THE SEA", as well as her forthcoming novel "Lejos de Casa", is based on her experiences with the Argentine dictatorsh

A DOOR OPEN TO THE SEA, play by Viviana Marcela Iriart, available for sale on Amazon

 

 

Play. Argentina, early 1990s. Sandra and Dunia, childhood friends who were detained and disappeared by the dictatorship in a concentration camp for being pacifists, reunite after Sandra's years in exile.

The emotional reunion gives way to the shocking realization of how the dictatorship managed to separate them and create two communities: one for those who stayed and one for those condemned to exile.

Suddenly, an abyss opens before their eyes, leaving them on opposite shores.

Can they build a bridge to unite them?

 

Dr. Susana D. Castillo, University of San Diego, United States:

“…...the play explores the uprooting of its two characters on different levels. On one level, the play deals with the anxious reunion of two women separated for ten years…

Aptly, the initial encounter is choreographed as a slow dance in which the two women try to find each other—as if in a mist—while simultaneously suppressing the outward expression of their conflicting emotions… Thus, they will move—with caution and restraint—from reminiscence to laughter, from song to nostalgia, from distance…to the tango!...

(...) It is worth adding that Viviana Marcela Iriart—novelist and journalist—sought refuge in the Venezuelan Embassy at the age of 21, a period that marked the beginning of her exile, which would take her to various parts of the world before she settled in Venezuela…”

Available for sale on Amazon

 

Viviana Marcela Iriart (1958) is an Argentine-Venezuelan writer, playwright, and interviewer.

She has published "La Casa Lila" ( novel), "Interviews" (interviews with cultural figures, in English), and "¡Bravo, Carlos Giménez!" (biography). She compiled the free-to-read book "María Teresa Castillo-Carlos Giménez-Festival Internacional de Teatro de Caracas 1973-1992", a collaborative work with José Pulido, Rolando Peña, Karla Gómez, Carmen Carmona, and Roland Streuli.

"A DOOR OPEN TO THE SEA", as well as her forthcoming novel "Lejos de Casa", is based on her experiences with the Argentine dictatorship and exile.

ABOUT TO TAKE OFF... excerpt from the book "How to endure life with HUMOR", Confidences of an actor, by Jairo Carthy

 

ABOUT TO TAKE OFF...

During the filming of the first movie in which I had the pleasure of participating, I experienced a very, very improbable episode, but I assure you it is true.

We were filming on the outskirts of Maracaibo, it was a Wednesday, and I was performing in a play in Caracas, which was the final week of the season. The clauses in my contract stated that I could film until noon that day, as I had to fly to Caracas to do the performance that night, and starting the following Monday, they could use my time as they saw fit since I would no longer have theater performances.

Up to that point, everything was going very well. The detail was that it was almost 3 PM, the last flight to Caracas left at 4, and we were on the outskirts of the capital. To top it off, the scene we were filming was none other than the death of my character, a terrible hitman, who, to the delight of the cinema audience, would be killed with many shots and there would be a lot of blood. Well, in reality, blood flowed throughout the movie since they killed the entire cast; it was not for nothing that it was called "The Slaughter of Santa Bárbara."

Well, a Spanish special effects makeup artist was in charge of my terrible appearance. Among all the things he did to me, he carefully introduced a product similar to gel into my scalp. It was more like a black gum that would melt with heat and give a very natural blood-like appearance that would run down my temples, my eyes, my neck, etc. Finally, we filmed the scene. The assistants were ready with towels, water, and my clothes to remove and clean any trace of my character. There, in the middle of the street and as quickly as I could, I took off my makeup and hopped into a taxi heading to "La Chinita" airport to catch my flight back to Caracas.

We were going over 120 km on those roads; it seemed like we would never arrive. I felt like Cinderella rushing home before the clock struck twelve and the magic was gone.

Finally, we arrived. I jumped out of the taxi and headed to the airline counter, where I encountered an employee who looked terrified and informed me that the flight was about to take off.

I wondered: what’s wrong with this guy? I wanted to die; I had to catch that flight no matter what! I asked him which way to the runway, and he pointed to some ramps. I looked like a figure skater flying down those ramps, and at the end, I encountered some national guards who obviously stopped me and looked at me in horror. I said to them:

·        Excuse me, but I have to catch that flight; it’s a matter of life or death... The guard looked at his partner, who nodded, and he communicated with the control tower via radio to stop the plane. Again, they both looked at me almost with pity. I thought: everyone here is crazy. The official said: Run! Run, the plane is waiting for you!

I don’t know if you know that those small planes have a rear entrance or exit, yes, like from the back of the plane. As I was running, I saw a door opening, but no stairs came down. When I arrived and looked up, the terrified flight attendant told me:

·        Get on, get on... and I wondered: How the heck? Finally, a small ladder of about two steps came down, and it was still very high. Like a primate, I climbed up the steps and sat in a random seat. The flight attendant told me: - Don’t move; we are about to take off. Of course, all the passengers' eyes were on me, and I thought, why are they looking at me in horror? Finally, the plane took off, and the flight attendant kindly asked me:

·        Would you like something, a sedative? You look very pale, and I replied:

·        Well, water or something to drink, if you don’t mind.

They assigned me my seat, and the guy sitting next to me almost yelled and said:

·        Sir, what happened to you, for God’s sake!!! I didn’t understand anything. But when I went to wipe the sweat off my face, what I wiped was "blood." The famous product did its job, and of course, they hadn’t removed everything they had put on my scalp, so it did its function. I was bleeding quite naturally.

The incredible thing about this story, which I have always wondered, is how they let a person who was supposedly injured get on a plane? They never asked me my name, nor did they ask for my ticket... nothing. The important thing is that I was able to arrive in time for my performance... Oh! And that scene that took so much effort was useless. We repeated it a few weeks later in Calabozo, and with all the calm and tranquility, I enjoyed the death of my character.

By the way, the guy who traveled next to me… yes, the one who yelled, was none other than Amílcar Boscán, the soloist of the well-known group "Guaco."

 

On Amazon

PUERTA ABIERTA AL MAR, obra de teatro de Viviana Marcela Iriart, de venta en Amazon

 

Obra de teatro. Argentina, principio años ´90. Sandra y Dunia, amigas desde la infancia que fueron detenidas-desaparecidas por la dictadura en un campo de concentración, por ser pacifistas, se reencuentran después de varios años de exilio de Sandra.
Del emocionante reencuentro pasan a la sorpresa descubrir cómo la dictadura logró separarlas y crear dos pueblos: el de las personas que se quedaron y el de las personas que fueron condenadas al exilio.
De repente, un abismo se abre ante sus ojos, dejándolas en orillas separadas.
¿Podrán crear un puente que las una?

Dra. Susana D. Castillo, Universidad de San Diego, California: "...la obra explora el desarraigo de sus dos personajes en diferentes planos. En un primer nivel, la obra versa sobre el re-encuentro ansioso de dos mujeres separadas durante diez años…
Acertadamente el encuentro inicial está coreografiado en una danza lenta en la que las dos mujeres tratan de hallarse
–como en una neblina – al mismo tiempo que reprimen la exteriorización de sus conflictivas emociones... Así ellas pasarán -con cautela y mesura- de la evocación a la risa, del canto a la nostalgia, de la distancia….al tango!...
(...)
Es oportuno añadir que Viviana Marcela Iriart –novelista y periodista – estuvo refugiada en la Embajada de Venezuela a los 21 años, etapa en la que empezó su exilio que la llevaría a varias latitudes hasta ubicarse en Venezuela…”.


Viviana Marcela Iriart (1958)- Escritora, dramaturga y entrevistadora argentina- venezolana.
Ha publicado “La Casa Lila” (novela), “Entrevistas” (a personalidades de la cultura), “¡Bravo, Carlos Giménez” (biografía). Ha compilado el libro de lectura gratuita "María Teresa Castillo-Carlos Giménez-Festival Internacional de Teatro de Caracas 1973-1992", realizado junto con José Pulido, Rolando Peña, Karla Gómez, Carmen Carmona y Roland Streuli.
"Puerta Abierta al Mar", así como su novela "Lejos de Casa", de próxima publicación, está basada en su experiencia con la dictadura argentina y el exilio.

En e-book y libro pasta blanda se vende en Amazon

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS ONLINE, story from the book ADVENTURES WITH SOCIAL MEDIA by JAIRO CARTHY, illustrations by LISARDO RICO

 

Once upon a time... There was a very beautiful young woman named Snow White. Although her name referred to her skin as pale as snow, her true beauty lay in her kindness and curiosity about the world. Snow White lived in a big city, where social media was a daily staple and everyone was connected through their devices.

One day, while browsing on her phone, Snow White came across a group of seven friends who shared their lives through a video channel called “The Digital Dwarfs.”

These seven friends were very different from each other, but they all shared a passion for technology and creativity. They spent their time singing and uploading many things on social media.

So strong was their passion that they took on some very original names. These were "ROMY," for ROM Memory, who was always taking selfies and sharing photography tips; "SOFTY" for software, an expert in programming who always had a new gadget to showcase; "DATA" for the data used, who made comedy videos and always managed to bring smiles; "HARDY" for the hard drive, who was always sleepy but liked to record relaxing nature sounds; "BLOGY" for the blogs published on social media, who was always in a bad mood and gave video game reviews; "GADGY" for the use of gadgets, the sweetest of them all, who did crafts; and "NET," obviously for the network, who dedicated himself to teaching how to make the most of social media.

Snow White began to follow them and was immediately drawn to their content and the beautiful and contagious songs and videos they uploaded, and soon became one of their most loyal followers. Through their videos, she learned about the importance of friendship, creativity, and, above all, authenticity. However, not everything was rosy.

There was a famous influencer known as the Evil Queen, who was beautiful and talented but also very jealous. Every day, she checked her statistics and became furious if someone got more “likes” or “followers” than she did.

When she saw that Snow White was starting to gain popularity through her interactions with the seven dwarfs, she became envious and decided to use her magic to get rid of Snow White.

So, one day, she posted a viral video full of malicious rumors about her, claiming that Snow White was stealing ideas and followers from others. The video went viral, and soon, Snow White’s reputation was in jeopardy. People began to unfollow her and criticize her without knowing the truth.

Desperate and sad, Snow White decided to step away from social media. She locked herself in her room, feeling lonely and lost. It was then that she received an unexpected message from the Seven Dwarfs. They reminded her how special she was and offered their unconditional support. —Don't let the Evil Queen get to you —said RE—. Authenticity will always shine brighter than any rumor. —We can help bring the truth to light —proposed SOL—. Let’s make a video together!

With the support of her friends, Snow White decided to return to social media, and together they created a heartfelt video where they shared their experiences, talked about the importance of friendship and truth, and exposed the manipulation behind the Evil Queen's video. With their charisma and authenticity, the video went viral for the right reasons, and quickly, her followers began to return.

The Evil Queen, seeing that her plan had failed, felt even more jealous and frustrated, so in an attempt to bring Snow White down, she decided she had to act more cunningly and created a fake profile to sow discord among them and began to harass her followers.

But Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were not intimidated. They used their platform to speak about online harassment and how to confront it. With each post, their community grew stronger and more united.

They shared stories of support and friendship and began receiving messages of thanks from people who had gone through similar experiences.

In the end, the Evil Queen realized that her magic could not compete with authenticity and kindness. One day, while reviewing the comments on her latest video, she realized that Snow White's community had grown so much that she felt part of something special.

For the first time in a long time, the Evil Queen felt a glimmer of hope and a desire to change, so she decided to make a video in which she apologized to Snow White and acknowledged that she had been wrong.

At first, Snow White's followers were skeptical, but Snow White, with her big heart, accepted the apology and extended a friendly hand. —We all make mistakes —said Snow White in her video—. What’s important is learning from them and growing together.

The community came together to support the Evil Queen on her path to redemption. Thus, from unity and understanding, a new friendship emerged. Over time, the Evil Queen also became an ally and began working alongside Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on projects that promoted ideas to improve the community online.

And so, in a world where social media could be a battlefield, Snow White and the Digital Dwarfs proved that true magic lies in friendship, authenticity, and mutual support.

©Jairo Carthy

ADVENTURES WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

For sale on AMAZON