Latest Kawésqar language Stories

Francisco Arroyo is among the last members of a Patagonian tribe on the verge of no longer existing. There is only an estimated 12-20 pure-blooded members of his nomadic Kawesqar tribe alive and most of them are elderly.Arroyo remembers braving the icy channels and fjords of southern Chile's Patagonia region with his father, tending a fire lit on dried earth on the bottom of their canoe and diving naked for giant mussels to survive."It ends with our generation," Arroyo said at a...

SANTIAGO, Chile -- A once-nomadic tribe of hunters and fishermen living in the frigid channels near the bottom of the world is nearing extinction.Down to just 15 full-blooded members, the Kawesqar people could soon go the way of other indigenous tribes in Chile, its language and culture disappearing to all but the history books.Juan Carlos Tonko, however, is doing all he can to stop the Kawesqar's slow march to oblivion.Six months ago, the 40-year-old left the comforts of the capital,...