Chilean Joan Jara, who pursued her husband's killer to Deltona seeking justice, dies

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For 50 years Joan Jara sought justice for her husband murdered during a coup in Chile in 1973.

On Sunday, the 96-year-old woman, a one-time British dancer who became the wife of Chilean folk singer Victor Jara, died weeks before her husband's accused killer was expected to be deported to Chile to face justice.

"We regret to inform that our beloved Joan Jara, at the age of 96, passed away today November 12 at 17:30 hours," the family announced through the Victor Jara Foundation on Sunday.

A wake was scheduled for Monday afternoon, the foundation said on its Facebook page.

Deltona man to be deportedChilean arrested, will be deported to face charges in killing of folk singer Victor Jara

Joan Jara, who obtained Chilean citizenship, dedicated her life to keeping her husband Victor Jara's memory alive, and fought for justice for her murdered husband. That pursuit brought her to Orlando in 2016 when in a civil trial, she sued her accused husband's killer, Pedro Pablo Barrientos, who was then living in Deltona.

In September 1973, military Gen. Augusto Pinochet, backed by the U.S. government, overthrew Chile's democratically elected President Salvador Allende.

After the coup, supporters of Allende, including Joan Jara's husband Victor Jara, were rounded up and taken to Chile Stadium, where Barrientos, a death squad lieutenant, murdered him, Joan Jara told the jury in 2016.

During testimony she recounted how she met her husband at a university in Chile. In between sighs, Joan Jara recalled the events of September 1973, when her husband left to sing a new song he had written for an exhibit at a university where President Allende was scheduled to attend.

She never saw her husband again alive.

The last time she saw Victor Jara was when she went to the morgue to identify his mangled, tortured and bullet-riddled body, she testified in 2016.

"I lost so much on that day," Joan Jara said at the trial, pausing, "so much changed in my life and the life of my daughters."

The Orlando jury found Barrientos liable for Victor Jara's death and ordered him to pay Jara's family $28 million.

The civil trial also brought to light that Barrientos lied on his citizenship application papers, which resulted in his U.S citizenship being revoked.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials finally arrested Barrientos during a traffic stop on Oct. 5. He is expected to be extradited to Chile to face charges in the killing of Victor Jara.