Fallece un gran amigo de Nicaragua.

[YeahMan]

En la edición del 28 de este mes, del Diario Los Angeles Times, se informa
del fallecimiento del geográfo estadounidense Bernard Niestchman, gran amigo
y estudioso de Nicaragua, y principalmente de los pueblos indígenas de
nuestra Costa Atlántica.
Precisamente hace un par de meses reproduje en este foro, parte de la
declaración que dió Bernard ante la Comisión de Derechos Humanos de la OEA,
referente a los abusos sufridos por los Miskitu por parte de la entonces
dictadura frentista. Según la nota informativa, el Profesor de la
Universidad de California en Berkeley, falleció a causa de cáncer en el
esófago, tenía 58 años de edad, y estaba casado con una ciudadana
nicaragüense de origen Miskito llamada Angela.
Casualmente unas cuantas semanas atrás, en una rápida conversación en mi
casa en Granada con Carlos Fernando Chamorro, mencionábamos a Bernard y la
dedicación y amor que este hombre demostraba por Nicaragua, especialmente
los "costeños".
Para aquellos que no supieron quien era él, a continuación copio la nota de
Los Angeles Times.
Atte.
LAC


Friday, January 28, 2000 | Print this story


Bernard Nietschmann; UC Geographer


By MYRNA OLIVER, Times Staff Writer

Bernard "Barney" O. Nietschmann, UC Berkeley geographer who studied and
aided native tribes in war-torn Nicaragua and other nations, urging them to
take control of their own natural resources, including the green sea turtle,
has died. He was 58.
Nietschmann died Saturday at his home in Berkeley of esophageal cancer,
university officials said.
A prolific writer and dedicated ecologist as well as cultural
geographer, Nietschmann had worked with the Miskito Indians of Nicaragua's
Atlantic Coast since his graduate school days in the 1960s.
Over the decades, Nietschmann earned their respect and persuaded them
to work with him in preventing the extinction of the green sea turtle. He
helped secure the 4,000-square-mile Miskito Coast Protected Area, approved
by the Nicaraguan government in 1991.
During the Sandinista revolution, the Miskitos invited Nietschmann to
see the Indians' military struggle for control of their own habitat. The
professor surreptitiously entered Nicaragua in 1982 and 1983 to travel with
rebel fighters and later wrote articles for major American newspapers about
the Indian resistance. His political commentaries garnered criticism from
activists who were incensed by his critiques of the Sandinistas and accused
him of playing into the hands of American right-wing politicians.
Nietschmann wrote a number of books about the Miskitos, including one
in 1993 about his travels with the rebels, "A Fourth World Revolution: With
Yapti Tasba Guerrillas Fighting the Sandinista Occupation." Others were the
1973 "Between Land and Water: The Subsistence Ecology of the Miskito
Indians, Eastern Nicaragua" and "Caribbean Edge: The Coming of Modern Times
to Isolated People and Wildlife" in 1979.
Ever the geographer, Nietschmann organized Miskito Indians and
scientists to map the tribe's off-shore terrain, describing the project in
an article he wrote for the Cultural Survival Quarterly in 1995:
"On the far western edge of the Caribbean, within the wide marine
shallows of coral, sand and sea grass, in the communal sea territory of
indigenous coastal communities, Miskito--the traditional sea knowledge
specialists--are working with invited marine scientists, Miskito
environmentalists and lobster divers to map the Miskito Reefs and
surrounding waters. The Miskito Reef Mapping Project is being done by the
communities for three reasons: 1) to document that these vast waters and
reefs are theirs; 2) to justify community defense of their sea territory
against international lobster pirates, drug traffickers and industrial
fishing fleets; and 3) to provide baseline geographic and biological
information for future comparison of coral reef diversity and health."
More recently, Nietschmann worked with Mayans in southern Belize to
document their homeland, resulting in the 1997 publication of "A Maya Atlas:
The Struggle to Preserve Maya Land in Southern Belize."
In 1996, Nietschmann founded GeoMap, a Bay Area organization to help
other indigenous peoples work with international scientists and modern
mapping equipment to protect their habitats and cultures.
During his career, Nietschmann also studied marine resources of the
Torres Strait islanders off the coast of Australia and aided Native
Americans by protesting nuclear testing on lands of the Shoshone Indians in
Nevada.
He served on the board of the Conference of Latin Americanist
Geographers from 1978 to 1981, was a founding board member of the Center for
World Indigenous Studies in 1984, and since 1993 had been a member of the
National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration.
Born in Peoria, Ill., Nietschmann earned his bachelor's degree in
geography at UCLA and his master's degree and doctorate at the University of
Wisconsin. He taught at the University of Michigan from 1970 to 1977 and
then moved to UC Berkeley, earning distinguished teaching awards at both
schools.
He is survived by his second wife, Angelina, a Miskito Indian activist
he met in Costa Rica; a son from his first marriage, Bernard Nietschmann
Jr., and three children from his second marriage, Carlos, Kabu and Tangni;
his parents, Bernard Nietschmann Sr. and Elizabeth Quinn Wolf; two brothers;
and a sister.

[alaind]

Que lastima que la poca gente que tiene un interes en lo olvidado de este mundo..viven una vida corta...Luciano es la primera vez que escucho el nombre Bernard Niestchman, y eso que por lo escrito me doy cuenta que his life's work travels to such a wide expanse...thank you for the information...I think it is great that you keep us informed...but what unfortunate news to pass on.

[liliet]

gracias por tu articulo.. me alegra mucho saber que quedan algunas personas que se preocupan por los recursos naturales y los indijenas de nuestro pais

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sandra v