Mes nuits d'exil

Fredo is a young high school student inspired by Salvador Allende's speeches and his vision of a "Chilean path to socialism". Faced with the looming counter-revolution, he and his friends mobilize as best they can to defend the left-wing government. Yet, on the morning of 11 September 1973, while Fredo plans to block his school, his world collapses. General Pinochet seizes power, plunging the country into civil war.

The hope of a promising future is brutally replaced by the dark hours of an unending nightmare. Fredo's daily life, like that of many Chilean left-wing activists, is radically transformed. Denunciations, constant intimidation, arbitrary arrests–even imprisonment and torture–turn existence into a living hell. Branded "subversive" by the junta, Fredo cannot shake off this label. There is only one option: exile.

In Mes nuits d’exil, Alfredo Pena-Vega recounts the full scope and hardships of his journey. Fleeing one dictatorship only to encounter another, this young teenager finds no refuge. From the snowstorms of the Andes to the bitter winter nights on the streets of Buenos Aires, Fredo resists the dictatorship as he resists the cold. He learns to survive, stateless and ostracized.

His adventures are interwoven with lyrical passages and sometimes melancholic reflections. What can one do when belonging to the defeated side? Is it worth suffering for a lost cause? At a time when the "brown plague" again threatens to spread across Europe, Mes nuits d’exil offers a poignant glimpse into the realities of such oppression–and serves as a warning to confront it in time.