October 1980. The Police starts the decade on top of the music world with the release of Zenyatta Mondatta. Their third studio album inspired an entire New Wave generation, proving that the electric guitar could mesh with synthesizers to create an incredible sound.
Only a month prior, Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship had led a ghost referendum to approve a new Chilean constitution. This in order to keep the dictatorship in power while creating a false sense of hope to a repressed and tortured country.
After a successful European and American leg of their world tour, the band was setting the dates for Mexico and Brazil, and was in open negotiations to have shows in Argentina before the end of the year. The band landed in Buenos Aires at the beginning of December with three promised dates: 14, 15, and 16.
After their first show, which was in a more intimate setting, the band played for a larger audience on the second day. In a time of generalized repression, the stadium became an oasis in a climate of prohibition. That night it became a temple of rock for young people to be free (for a few hours) of the restrictions they were living with.
The band was fully aware of the political climate and prepared a set list full of rhythm and energy. Three thousand people cheered as the first riffs from “Don’t Stand So Close To Me.”
After 40 minutes of intensity, while Andy Summers was lost in the notes to “Shadows in the Rain,” one girl left her seat and tried to get to the stage. Immediately, a law enforcement officer intercepted her and began to hit her just below where Summers was playing.
The guitarist realized what was happening and, without dropping his guitar, kicked the head of the officer with rage and indignation. The situation escalated despite most of the audience not realizing what had happened. The show continued like normal but backstage, the enforcement agencies informed Daniel Grinbark and Miles Copeland, the band’s producer and manager, that things were not looking good.
When the show ended, the officer Summers had kicked arrived at the trio’s dressing room to arrest him. After several minutes of tension, through an interpreter and Summer’s apologies, the guitarist was left free after a bribe was paid.
The band left Argentina unscathed, but Sting was saddened that such a great country could be under an unfortunate government. A couple months later, while the band was touring in Asia, Copeland confirmed the band would be back in a South American nation ruled by a dictator; this time it was Chile.
The Police landed in Chile on February 17, 1982, three days prior to the show. They would be playing at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival, one of the few opportunities the population had to escape the reality of Pinochet’s junta, economical crisis, and constant confrontations between the regime and students, workers, as well as anybody who opposed it. The air was charged with the sorrow of thousands of disappearances, torture, and assassinations.
Since its arrival the band was aware of the amount of soldiers patrolling the streets. The press of the regime criticized the band claiming they did not respect their fans. When the trio reached the Hotel O’Higgins, the place where the Viña del Mar performers would be staying, officials attempted to intimidate the band’s road staff.
“Why do you dye your hair?,” “Why do you sing about depression?,” were only some of the questions asked at press conference before their presentation. Sting ended the junket abruptly after an ironic response, walking out with an upset look on his face. The show at Viña was brief and a part of the public connected with The Police, who were fully aware of the Chilean people’s repression.
In 1987 the British musician focused his anger on his solo release “They Dance Alone,” which was dedicated to the women and over 40 thousand victims of homicide and disappearances left by the regime of August Pinochet in Chile, as well as the entire Operation Condor in all of Latin America.
Hey, Mr. Pinochet
You’ve sown a bitter crop
It’s foreign money that supports you
One day the money’s going to stop
No wages for your torturers
No budget for your guns
Can you think of your own mother
Dancin’ with her invisible son
Sting himself is a human rights activist who has demonstrated his support for victims of both dictatorships. The same year that “They Dance Alone” came out, he returned to Argentina. This time he performed in front of 60 thousand people with the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo onstage with him.
Source:
Cibeira, Juan Manuel, “La Biblia del Rock“, Ediciones B Argentina, 2016.
Translated by María Suárez
