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A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 9 January 2019

South America bloc’s woes leave architectural gem forlorn

By JOSHUA GOODMAN Ecuadorian President Ra-
Associated Press fael Correa, a protege of
SAN ANTONIO DE PICHIN- Chavez. The prize-winning
CHA, Ecuador (AP) — It’s a building, 75 percent of
gravity-defying edifice that which is underground, is
befits the lofty ambitions of equipped with a state-of-
what was supposed to be a the-art assembly hall, an
symbol of South American impressive art collection
unity. and salons named for left-
Set against an arid moon- ist icons like Chilean poet
scape on the equatorial Pablo Neruda and Nobel
line, two cantilevered glass Prize-winning novelist Ga-
wings soar dramatically briel Garcia Marquez. Just
above a reflecting pool, like in public buildings in
symbolizing freedom and socialist-ruled Venezuela,
transparency and looking Chavez’s bright-red sig-
like something out of a sci- nature and fiery citations
ence-fiction movie. dominate the hallways.
But for all its architectural “It’s absurd that a building
grandeur, the headquar- that cost several dozens of
ters of the Union of South millions of dollars has no use-
American Nations outside fulness,” Ecuadorian Presi-
Ecuador’s capital seems as dent Lenin Moreno said in
moribund as the group it- The Union of South American Nations, UNASUR, building stands forlorn near Quitom Ecuador, July while announcing that
self. What was once an as- Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018. he would demand — ille-
piring diplomatic hub bus- Associated Press gally, it turns out — that Un-
tling with official translators it has been in decades, and suspended their mem- time that Brazil, whose in- asur return the building so
and cocktail parties for vis- dampening enthusiasm for bership. Then in August, coming President Jair Bolso- that it could be repurposed
iting dignitaries looks more the group’s anti-imperialist newly elected Colombian naro has criticized UNASUR, as an indigenous university.
like a ghost building, with anthem: “Soy del Sur,” or President Ivan Duque re- takes over the group’s ro- But for critics perhaps the
barely half the staff it had “I’m from the South.” nounced the treaty alto- tating presidency. biggest eyesore is the gi-
when it was inaugurated to “Unasur was a good idea, gether, paving the way for For critics who see Unasur ant bronze statue at the
great fanfare in 2014. but ultimately didn’t de- his country’s withdrawal in as little more than a waste- entrance showing a strid-
The group’s chief architect, liver concrete results,” said February. ful monument to leftist ing Nestor Kirchner, the
former Brazilian President Michael Shifter, president The result is a $20 million def- overreach during the pre- first secretary-general of
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is of the Washington-based icit that has led to across- vious decade’s commodi- the bloc. Since his death
in jail on corruption charges think tank Inter-American the-board budget cuts. At ties boom, its headquarters in 2010, the former Argen-
while another big booster, Dialogue. the current rate, the group, make a convenient target. tine president has seen his
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, In April, half of Unasur’s 12 which has been without a Designed by Ecuadorian legacy tarnished by allega-
has died. member-states — Argen- secretary-general for two architect Diego Guayasa- tions of corruption. Support-
Meanwhile, a rightward tina, Brazil, Chile, Colom- years, will burn through all min, the $43 million build- ers of Moreno are leading
shift in politics has left the bia, Paraguay and Peru of its cash reserves by April. ing was built and donated a campaign to have it re-
region more polarized than — stopped paying dues That’s around the same to the group by former moved. q

Count finds sharp drop in monarch butterflies in California

Associated Press which it said is an 86 per- State University researchers
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — cent decline since 2017. found the species likely will
Researchers with an envi- By comparison, the group go extinct in the next few
ronmental group have la- in 1981 counted more than decades if nothing is done
beled as “disturbingly low” 1 million western monarchs to save it.
the number of western wintering in California, the Scientists say the butterflies
monarch butterflies that San Francisco Chronicle re- are threatened by pesti-
migrate along the Califor- ported. cides, herbicides and de-
nia coast. The Xerces Society con- struction along their migra-
A recent count by the Xe- ducts annual Thanksgiving tory route. They also have
rces Society recorded few- and New Year’s counts noted climate change im-
er than 30,000 butterflies, and was not certain what pacts. University of Michi-
gan and Stanford University
researchers found carbon
dioxide from car and fac-
tory exhaust reduced a
natural toxin in milkweed
In this Aug. 19, 2015 photo, Tom Merriman stands behind a that feeding caterpillars
monarch in his butterfly atrium at his nursery in Vista, Calif. use to fight parasites.
Associated Press Western monarch butter-
caused the numbers to butterflies are not being re- flies are typically seen from
drop. It said there is no ported in other parts of the November to March in
substantial evidence of country. forested groves along the
a delayed migration and A 2017 study by Washington California coast.q