CERRO SOMBRERO

 

 

The town of Cerro Sombrero from the Primavera province didn’t even exist until 1947, when oil was discovered in the Land of Fire. A working settlement was built around the site, and over time it acquired a school, church, hospital, movie theater, and even a sports center with the arrival of Americans, which prompted the prefect of the Magallanes province at the time, Mateo Martinić Beroš, to officially declare it a city in 1965. Cerro Sombrero has fewer than 800 citizens today, but it still has a local government and mayor, Blagomir Brztilo. In this sort of environment, poet Desenka Vukasović de Draksler (Punta Arenas, 1935 – Cerro Sombrero, 2011), whose poetry exists in many languages today, managed to make a name for herself, and was voted woman of the year for the entire province in 2001. Vukasović’s verses are carved into the Monumento a los Martires (Monument to the Martyrs), which is dedicated to the unfortunate series of 71 individuals who died in the workplace over the course of 51 years. The poet says: They left the mark of their torches in blue chains, on the trail of swallows towards the sky.

 

Cerro Sombrero             Cerro Sombrero

 

Cerro Sombrero, Land of Fire, Monument to the Martyrs and Desenka Vukasovic’s verses.

 

 

Desenka

 

Desenka Vukasović de Draksler, judging for a gastronomic event in 2010.