Nobel Prizes: A Light in the Latin Darkness

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, 48, is a quiet, slightly built Argentine whose shy smile and modest appearance belie an iron resolve: he is a dedicated champion of Latin America's poor and oppressed, and, by proxy, of Argentina's 6,000 desaparecidos—"those who disappeared," most either kidnaped or liquidated in the Argentine military's harsh, four-year-long antiterrorism drive. As such, Pérez Esquivel is an avowed nonviolent foe of the ruling junta in Buenos Aires. As a result of last week's Nobel honors, he is now, irony of ironies, on the payroll of a government he has long opposed....

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!