Five giant matryoshka dolls on the central square of San Javier.
Driving northwest from Montevideo, toward the Uruguay River, you’ll eventually come across Сан-Хавьер, or San Javier, a sleepy town founded in 1913 when a group of Christian refugees fled the Russian Empire to settle on the Uruguay-Argentina border. The largest autonomous Russian colony in South America, San Javier is steeped in history and tradition but is facing present-day turbulence due to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war.
Some 98 percent of the town’s 1,800 inhabitants are of Slavic descent, encompassing Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet nations. “We have neighbors who see Russia, but also Ukraine, as the motherland of their ancestors, which still generates a romantic approach to their European roots,” says Leonardo Martínez, San Javier’s tourism director.
“Of course, they see everything to do with the war with great concern. But they don’t take sides in the conflict. All they want is peace and the end of the war.”
The town was originally formed by a group of 300 families...
The specialization trend among corporate board members It is not only a matter of perception:…
Protests helped to shut down the Cobre Panamá mine, but economic and environmental questions remain…
The city of Rio de Janeiro estimates that a Madonna concert this Saturday on Copacabana…
A ban on former President Ricardo Martinelli upended Panama’s elections, but his running mate is…
The São Paulo City Council on Thursday approved legislation authorizing Brazil’s largest city to sign…
The preliminary report on AI regulations presented to Brazil’s Senate last week provides a middle-of-the-road…