Nikolas Kozloff

To read my article, click here.

To read my article, click here.

Read my article, "Revolt of the Capybaras," by clicking here.

To read my most recent article, "Massive extinction: The demise of Darwin's ancient giant sloth has lessons for the present," click here.

From early December to early February, I roughly retraced Charles Darwin's route through South America in tandem with a book project.  Traveling throughout the region from 1832-1835, the young naturalist made important scientific discoveries and observations which would later inform his theory of evolution.  I had the unique opportunity of participating in the Darwin 200 Initiative, a scientific expedition on the high seas.  Sailing aboard Dutch tall ship Oosterschelde, I traveled from Patagonia in Argentina to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands.  Before meeting up with the Darwin expedition, however, I flew to Montevideo.  From there, I made my way by ferry to Buenos Aires, and then onwards by plane to Puerto Madryn where I embarked on the Oosterschelde.  After participating in the sea voyage, I flew from Stanley to Punta Arenas, Chile and then onwards by plane and overland to Santiago.

 

Throughout my travels, I sought to assess Darwin's legacy by speaking with a vast array of people ranging from paleontologists to geologists to biologists to environmentalists to indigenous peoples to anthropologists to historians to nature guides and rangers to government and health officials and more.  A man of the Victorian Era, Darwin did not fully recognize the importance of protecting bio-diversity, let alone cultural diversity, and was ambivalent towards the very notion of extinction.  On the other hand, Darwin would undoubtedly be taken aback at the rapid pace of climate change today, as well as the risks posed to both wildife and society as a whole.  Can we adapt fast enough, or will we ultimately face extinction?  As I traveled throughout South America, such questions framed many of the discussions I conducted with participants on the ground. 

 

Since my return to New York, I have been synthesizing my interviews into a series of articles which will also inform my wider book project (to see my first article in Salon about Chile and forest fires, click here).  In addition to my writing, I have also curated an extensive photo essay which contextualizes many of the issues and underlying concepts relating to my trip.  Broadly speaking, the photo essay is broken down into separate chapters, with the first part dealing with Uruguay and Argentina, the second part dealing with sea travel in the south Atlantic and Falkland Islands, and the third part dealing with Chile.  South America is a large place, and as a result I did not retrace the beginning and end of Darwin's voyage dealing with Brazil and the Galápagos, which will have to wait for further travel.  Below is an index and guide to my photo essay.

 

PART I: ARGENTINA AND URUGUAY.

 

For "Montevideo: Indigenous Peoples and Mutinous Black Troops," click here.

 

For "Darwin's Travels in Uruguay," click here.

 

For "Darwin's Legacy in Argentina," click here.

 

For "Traveling South to Patagonia," click here.

 

For "Patagonia Wildlife Refuge," click here.

 

For "Gaucho Life," click here.

 

For "Hunting for Fossils," click here.

 

For "Voyage to Punta Tombo," click here.

 

PART II: SOUTH ATLANTIC AND THE FALKLANDS

 

For "Vernet and the Curious Case of Gaucho Rivero," click here.

 

For "Darwin 200 Initiative in the South Atlantic," click here.

 

For "From Waddell to Saunders Island," click here.

 

For "Exploring Carcass Island," click here.

 

For "Darwin's Legacy in the Falklands," click here.

 

For "Darwin and the Warrah," click here.

 

For "English Identity in the Falklands," click here.

 

For "Legacy of the Falklands War," click here.

 

PART III: CHILE

 

For "Darwin's Legacy in Chile," click here.

 

For "Indigenous Peoples and Megafauna," click here.

 

For "Ancient Sloth Cave and Torres del Paine National Park," click here.

 

For "Chile and the Indigenous Past," click here.

 

For "Puerto Montt and Chiloé," click here.

 

For "Indigenous Cultures and Food," click here.

 

For "Darwin's Mount Osorno," click here.

 

For "Lush Vegetation of Petrohué," click here.

 

For "Concepción's Natural Disasters," click here.

 

For "Concepción Natural History Museum," click here.

 

For "Visit to Santiago National Museum of Natural History," click here.

 

For "Fossils and Minerals in Santiago," click here.

 

For "Paleontology Museum," click here.

 

MISCELLANEOUS BONUS:

 

For "Offbeat Santiago," click here.

 

For "Vintage Scenes," click here.

 

For "Historic Trains of South America," click here.

For Travels in Historic Montevideo, click here.

 

For Travels in Argentina: From Gauchos to Freemasons and More, click here.

 

For Retracing Garibaldi's Steps in Uruguay, click here.

 

For the Romantic Era of Garibaldi in France and Spain, see here.

 

On a more contemporary note:

 

For Jews and Anti-Semitism in Buenos Aires, click here.

 

For Graffiti Lane in Berlin to Graffiti Alley in Buenos Aires, click here.

 

For Venezuela in the Chávez Era to Buenos Aires to Montevideo click here.

To read my latest article on Brazil's emerging drone surveillance program, click here.

Unfortunately, there is a pay wall so one cannot read the entire piece though you get a clear gist from the introduction. The article deals with the extreme diplomatic and political sensitivities associated with President Rousseff's drone program. Brazil is an emerging world power, and must tread lightly in neighboring countries like Paraguay and Bolivia which guard their sovereignty closely.

To read my latest article, click here.

My big piece about up and coming power Brazil and what's behind the story in terms of big power rivalry with the U.S. To read the article, click here.

As Obama dithers on changing the backwards and retrograde “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy dealing with gays in the military, South America has zoomed past the United States in new landmark legislation. Just weeks ago Uruguay, a tiny nation of some 3.5 million sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil, lifted a ban on homosexuals joining the armed forces. Historically, homosexuality was defined as a mental illness under Uruguayan law and as such gays were considered unsuitable to serve in the military.

Uruguay’s turnaround is all the more remarkable in light of the South American country’s recent history and the brutal role of the military. During the 1950s Uruguay was gripped with economic stagnation, inflation, and political corruption. As labor unrest mounted, Uruguayan society saw the rise of an urban Marxist guerrilla movement known as the Tupamaros. During the 60s, rebels carried out a number of spectacular actions including kidnappings and jailbreaks of fellow imprisoned insurgents. Seeing themselves as modern-day Robin Hoods, the Tupamaros robbed banks and distributed the money to the poor.

Long before Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo, the Nixon administration responded to political chaos in Uruguay by training the South American country’s police in interrogation and torture techniques. Dan Mitrione, a former policeman from Richmond, Indiana and an FBI agent, was sent to Uruguay in 1969 as an advisor to the U.S. Agency for International Development. In Uruguay, Mitrione was affiliated with the Uruguayan police’s Office of Public Safety and instructed his students in how to torture using electrical implements. Mitrione is reported to have said, “The precise pain, in the precise place, in the precise moment, for the desire effect.”

As tensions with the Tupamaros escalated the rebels kidnapped Mitrione and tried to use him as a bargaining chip, demanding the release of a large number of prisoners in exchange for the FBI man’s life. When the government refused the Tupamaros murdered Mitrione. The dramatic story was later immortalized by radical director Costa Gavras in his film State of Siege. In the movie, Yves Montand played the role of Philip Michael Santore, modeled after Mitrione.

In the midst of anti-Communist hysteria and its fight against the Tupamaros, the Uruguayan military became intoxicated by its own power and in 1973 took over the government in a coup. Uruguay soon had the dubious distinction of having the world’s highest percentage of political prisoners to the general population [Uruguay would not return to democratic rule until 1985 when jailed Tupamaros received amnesty and got out of jail]. Needless to say, the military was deeply conservative and threatened by gays. The armed forces banned anyone with “open sexual deviations” from attending military academies. In a number of highly publicized cases, the military dishonorably discharged officers for homosexual practices.

Though Uruguay is a rather conservative society, the country has not been immune from social and political changes sweeping through the rest of South America. In 2004, voters elected socialist Tabaré Vazquez of the left Broad Front coalition to the presidency. Three years later, Vazquez made history by signing a congressional bill granting civil unions to same-sex couples who had been living together for at least five years. Under the new law, gay couples were provided with similar rights to those enjoyed by married couples on matters like inheritance, pensions and child custody. The ruling made Uruguay the first Latin American country to legalize civil unions for gays and lesbians.

Though some retired Uruguayan military officers have warned that reversing the ban on gays joining the military will undermine morale and discipline, in general protest has been muted. Perhaps that’s not too surprising when you consider how much political and social attitudes have shifted within the Southern Cone’s military establishment, a point I discuss at considerable length in my new book Revolution! South America and the Rise of the New Left (Palgrave, 2008).

When he first came into office, Obama pledged to end “don’t ask don’t tell.” Polls show that many U.S. soldiers are comfortable with the idea of lifting the ban on gays serving in the ranks. Recently however Obama has backpedaled: the White House’s civil rights Web site has watered down the strong language it had used to signal its desire to scrap “don’t ask don’t tell.” When West Point graduate Dan Choi, an Iraq veteran and Arab linguist, was discharged from the military for disclosing that he was gay, the U.S. President failed to utter even a whisper of protest.

If Uruguay, a country which up until fairly recently was run by a repressive, macho and paternalistic military can institute landmark legislation dealing with gays in the military then what is Obama’s problem?