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Music, Diplomacy and International Solidarity: The Campaign for Miguel Ángel Estrella (1977–1980)

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International Relations, Music and Diplomacy

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Abstract

Argentinian pianist Miguel Angel Estrella was arrested in Montevideo during Operation Condor in December 1977. European musicians and friends of Estrella were quick to react and mobilize: in Paris, Yves and Martine Haguenauer founded the “Comité de soutien de Miguel Estrella” (Miguel Estrella Support Committee) with the sponsorship of Nadia Boulanger, Henri Dutilleux and Yehudi Menuhin. During two years the committee conducted an intense campaign for the liberation of the musician, mobilizing the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Foreign Office, the UN, UNESCO, Amnesty International as well as thousands of anonymous people touched by the pianist’s situation. Estrella was liberated and expulsed to France in February 1980. He embodied the repressive violence of South American dictatorships. Music plays a crucial role here, as witnessed by the emotion caused when the pianist’s album “La musique en prison” came out and the media’s stories about the silent piano that was brought to his cell. Based on the Estrella committee’s archives, the French Foreign Affairs and on several interviews, this chapter will retrace the various steps of the imprisonment and liberation of the pianist to analyze the links between music, diplomacy and international solidarity.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This chapter was translated by Aurélie Perrier. We have also developed this issue, through a different angle, in an article published by the French journal Les Annales. See “La musique en prison. La campagne pour la libération de Miguel Ángel Estrella (1977–1980)” in Les Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales (2017).

  2. 2.

    Institut d’Histoire du Temps Présent, Archives of the Committee of Support for Estrella, Box ARC3018 (thereafter IHTP)/3/England: Letter from W. Peters to Lady Hutchinson, Montevideo, September 25, 1978.

  3. 3.

    Brigitte Massin, “L’affaire Estrella,” Panorama de la musique, March–April (1978): 11–12.

  4. 4.

    See Carol A. Hess, “Miguel Ángel Estrella: (Classical) Music for the People, Dictatorship, and Memory,” The Oxford Handbook of Music Censorship, Patricia Hall ed., Oxford University Press, 2015; Patrick W. Kelly, “The 1973 Chilean Coup and the Origins of Transnational Human Rights Activism,” Journal of Global History 8 (2013): 165–186.

  5. 5.

    Jessica Gienow-Hecht (Ed.), Music and International History in the Twentieth Century, New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2015; Danielle Fosler-Lussier, Music in America’s Cold War Diplomacy, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015; Anaïs Fléchet and Antoine Marès (Eds.), dossier “Musique et Relations internationales” I and II, Relations internationales, no. 155 and 156, 2013.

  6. 6.

    Thanks to the History Lab project led by Matthew Connelly: http://history-lab.org/

  7. 7.

    Archivo Judicial de Expedientes Provenientes de la Justicia Militar (thereafter AJPROJUMI), consulted thanks to the Secretaría de Derechos Humanos para el pasado reciente de la Presidencia de la República Oriental del Uruguay. We thank Director Fernando Gómez Pereyra as well as Mariana Mota and Isabel Wschebor Pellegrini.

  8. 8.

    We thank all those who confided in us and opened their private archives: Miguel Ángel and Javier Estrella, Martine and Jean-Louis Haguenauer, Myriam Chimènes, “Gato” Ember Martínez.

  9. 9.

    “Listas negras de artistas, músicos, intelectuales y periodistas,” facsimile documents of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional, Buenos Aires, Ministerio de Defensa, Presidencia de la Nación, 2014.

  10. 10.

    Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale Contemporaine, Nanterre, Fonds SIJAU-Weil-Uruguay: CDPPU, “La Libération de Miguel Ángel Estrella, de Charles Serralta et la situation en Uruguay,” typed brochure, undated; Estrella’s testimony contained inside is dated April 21, 1980.

  11. 11.

    “La Libération de Miguel Ángel Estrella, de Charles Serralta et la situation en Uruguay.”

  12. 12.

    Stella Calloni, Los años del lobo: Operación Cóndor, Buenos Aires: Peña Lillo Ediciones Continente, 1999; Frank Godichaud, Operación Cóndor. Notas sobre el terrorismo de estado en el Cono Sur, Madrid: Sepha Ed., 2005; J. Patrice McSherry, Predatory States: Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005.

  13. 13.

    “Nómina de integrantes de la organización sediciosa argentina ‘Montonero’,” Servicio de Información de Defensa, July 1976, in “Partido Peronista ‘Montonero’ (in Uruguay)—Indice cronológico de documentos.”

  14. 14.

    CDPPU, “La Libération…”

  15. 15.

    Gavazzo was convicted of crimes against humanity in 2006. His name appears in a new ongoing trial concerning the December 1977 events.

  16. 16.

    CDPPU, “La Libération…”

  17. 17.

    AJPROJUMI: Indictment 1009/77, Juzgado Militar de Instrucción de Segundo Turno, República Oriental del Uruguay, December 26, 1977.

  18. 18.

    Interview with M. A. Estrella, Paris, September 28, 2015.

  19. 19.

    Interview with J.-L. and M. Haguenauer, Paris, October 19, 2015.

  20. 20.

    IHTP/1: Yves Haguenauer, “Quelques repères concernant la ‘campagne’ pour la libération du pianiste Miguel Ángel Estrella, December 19, 1977–February 17, 1980”; IHTP/2/ONU: Letter from Jean-Paul Barré to Y. Haguenauer, January 10, 1978.

  21. 21.

    Interview with J.-L. et M. Haguenauer, Paris, October 19, 2015.

  22. 22.

    IHTP/3/Uruguay: “Petition for the Release of Miguel Ángel Estrella,” December 1977.

  23. 23.

    Private Archives of M. Chimènes: “Liste des personnalités ayant apporté leur soutien au comité de défense de Miguel Ángel Estrella,” December 27, 1977.

  24. 24.

    IHTP/1/Concerts: Opening remarks of Y. Haguenauer, April 24, 1978.

  25. 25.

    Private Archives of M. Chimènes: “Campagna italiana de solidarietà per Miguel Ángel Estrella,” Rome, September 4, 1978.

  26. 26.

    IHTP/3/England: Letter from Y. Haguenauer to Lady and Lord Hutchinson, Le Praz, August 20, 1978.

  27. 27.

    IHTP/3/England: Letter from C. Osborn to Y. Haguenauer, London, December 23, 1977.

  28. 28.

    IHTP/1/Concerts.

  29. 29.

    IHTP/1: Concert Program “Pour Estrella” au théâtre d’Orsay, April 24, 1978.

  30. 30.

    Record Erato ERA 9193.

  31. 31.

    IHTP/9: Press Release I.

  32. 32.

    IHTP/9: Press Release I.

  33. 33.

    IHTP/1: “Concerto pour transistor,” transcription, May 20, 1979.

  34. 34.

    Esteban Buch, La Neuvième de Beethoven—Une histoire politique, Paris: Gallimard, 1999.

  35. 35.

    “Fidelio, “L’opéra de la liberté pour la libération du pianiste argentin Miguel Ángel Estrella,” Télérama, March 14, 1979.

  36. 36.

    Archives diplomatiques de La Courneuve, Direction Amériques, dossier Estrella, 110QO/87 (thereafter AD): Letter from N. Boulanger to V. Giscard d’Estaing, Paris, December 23, 1977.

  37. 37.

    AD: Letter from G. Robin to N. Boulanger, Paris, January 6, 1978.

  38. 38.

    AD: Letter from G. Robin to N. Boulanger, Paris, January 6, 1978.

  39. 39.

    In particular during the controversy that surrounded the coming of D. Barenboim and the Paris Orchestra in 1980. Cf. Esteban Buch, Trauermarsch. L’Orchestre de Paris dans l’Argentine de la dictature, Paris: Seuil, 2016.

  40. 40.

    IHTP/2/Embassy of Montevideo: Letter from J. Ausseil to Y. Haguenauer, March 7, 1978.

  41. 41.

    Private Archives of M. Haguenauer: Letter from Y. Haguenauer to N. Boulanger, Neuilly, June 16, 1978.

  42. 42.

    State Department Central Foreign Policy Files: “Human Rights. Recent Visit to Political Detainee Miguel Ángel Estrella,” November 15, 1978. http://history-lab.org/documents/1978MONTEV03945. See also Vania Markarian, Left in transformation: Uruguayan Exiles and the Latin American Human Right Networks, 1967–1984, New York: Routledge, 2005, p. 225.

  43. 43.

    AD: Telegram from Le Guen, November 16, 1978.

  44. 44.

    IHTP/3/England: Letter from Lady Hutchinsonto Y. Haguenauer, January 16, 1978.

  45. 45.

    State Department Central Foreign Policy Files: “Possibility for Political Prisoner Exchange,” April 24, 1978. http://history-lab.org/documents/1978MONTEV01353

  46. 46.

    AD: Telegram from J. Ausseil, Montevideo, February 21, 1978; IHTP/3/Embassy Montevideo: Letter from J. Ausseil to Y. Haguenauer, Montevideo, February 24, 1978.

  47. 47.

    IHTP/3/England: Letter from Lord Mountbatten to General Alvarez, Romsey, February 23, 1978.

  48. 48.

    AD: “Compte-rendu du voyage effectué par Yves et Martine Haguenauer à Montevideo du 27 octobre au 9 Novembre 1978,” p. 5.

  49. 49.

    All the characteristic elements of “grand causes” described by Élisabeth Claverie and Luc Boltanski are here present. Cf. Nicolas Offenstadt, Stéphane Van Damme (Ed.), Affaires, scandales et grandes causes. De Socrate à Pinochet, Paris: Stock, 2007, p. 409.

  50. 50.

    This case shows a pluralization of diplomacy, also described in Noé Cornago’s Chap. 7 in this volume.

  51. 51.

    Cf. Jan Eckel & Samuel Moyn, The Breakthrough. Human Rights in the 1970s, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013.

  52. 52.

    Cf. Vania Markarian, Left in Transformation…, p. 124 and following pages.

  53. 53.

    Cf. Iain Guest, Behind the Disappearances. Argentina’s Dirty War Against Human Rights and the United Nations, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990, pp. 420–423.

  54. 54.

    Guest, Behind the Disappearances, pp. 423–428.

  55. 55.

    Estrella testifies at the request of Uruguayan lawyer in exile Alejandro Artucio, member of the International Commission of Jurists. Cf. IHTP/2/ONU: Miguel Ángel Estrella, information note dated February 25 1980, addressed to Waleed Sadi, President of the Human Rights Commission, February 27, 1980.

  56. 56.

    State Department Central Foreign Policy Files: “UN Approach to Uruguay Concerning Human Rights,” December 22, 1977. http://www.history-lab.org/documents/1979MONTEV04717

  57. 57.

    Miguel Ángel Estrella v. Uruguay, Communication No. 74/1980, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/OP/2 at 93 (1990). http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/undocs/newscans/74-1980.html (accessed online, September 29, 2016).

  58. 58.

    IHTP/2/ONU: Letter from Y. Haguenauer to J.-P. Barré, Neuilly, December 23, 1977.

  59. 59.

    IHTP/3/England: Letter from Lady Hutchinson to Y. Haguenauer, January 2, 1978.

  60. 60.

    IHTP/2/ONU: “Telegram of November 16 to Barré,” manuscript note by Y. Haguenauer.

  61. 61.

    IHTP/2/ONU: Human Rights Commission.

  62. 62.

    UNESCO Archives, SCX/CR/PRIV/4–5(S) (thereafter UNESCO): Letter from Jack Bornoff to A. M’Bow, Paris, December 22, 1977. On the actions undertaken by Menuhin toward UNESCO, see Anaïs Fléchet, “Le Conseil international de la musique et la politique musicale de l’Unesco (1945–1975),” Relations internationales, 156(1) (2014): 53–71.

  63. 63.

    UNESCO: Proceedings of the 104th meeting of the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations of the Executive Board (April 17–19, 1978).

  64. 64.

    UNESCO: Proceedings of the 105th meeting of the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations of the Executive Board (September 19–23, 1978); Proceedings of the 107th meeting of the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations of the Executive Board (April 23–27, 1979).

  65. 65.

    UNESCO: Examination of the communications transmitted to the Committee, March 23, 1979.

  66. 66.

    UNESCO: Memorandum on the Estrella case.

  67. 67.

    UNESCO: Letter from Pelayo Diaz Muguerza to A. M’Bow, Paris, September 6, 1979.

  68. 68.

    The US Government supported Carneiro’s visit. Cf. State Department Central Foreign Policy Files: “UNESCO: Human Rights Procedure: Miguel Ángel Estrella,” November 27, 1979 http://www.history-lab.org/documents/1979STATE306786

  69. 69.

    IHTP/3/England: Letter from Y. Haguenauer to Lady and Lord Hutchinson, July 25, 1979.

  70. 70.

    IHTP/2/ONU: Letter from Y. Haguenauer to J.-P. Barré, Neuilly, August 1, 1980.

  71. 71.

    See for instance: IHTP/1: “Appeal in favor of Mr. A. Estrella,” AFP Press Release, Paris, July 3, 1979.

  72. 72.

    This case goes beyond the political cleavages described by Anne-Sylvie Barthel-Calvet in Chap. 4 in this volume.

  73. 73.

    E. Buch, La Neuvième de Beethoven…

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Recherches sur les Arts et le Langage, École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France

    Esteban Buch

  2. Institut d’Études Culturelles et Internationales, Université de Versailles-Saint Quentin en Yvelines, Versailles, France

    Anaïs Fléchet

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  1. Esteban Buch
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for International Studies (CERI), Sciences Po, Paris, France

    Frédéric Ramel

  2. Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3, Paris, France

    Cécile Prévost-Thomas

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Buch, E., Fléchet, A. (2018). Music, Diplomacy and International Solidarity: The Campaign for Miguel Ángel Estrella (1977–1980). In: Ramel, F., Prévost-Thomas, C. (eds) International Relations, Music and Diplomacy . The Sciences Po Series in International Relations and Political Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63163-9_9

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