Jara is one of many "desaparecidos" (people who vanished under the Pinochet government and were most likely tortured and killed) whose families are still struggling to get justice. Thirty-six years after his first burial, he received a full funeral on 3 December 2009 in Santiago. Thousands of Chileans attended his reburial, after his body was exhumed, to pay their respects. President Michelle Bachelet—also a victim of the Pinochet regime, having spent years in exile—said: "Finally, after 36 years, Victor can rest in peace. He is a hero for the left, and he is known worldwide, even though he continues buried in the general cemetery where his widow originally buried him."