Hugo Pesce
Encyclopedia
Hugo Pesce was a Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

vian physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 and left-wing activist.

Medical work

Pesce was born in Tarma
Tarma
Santa Ana de la Ribera de Tarma is a city in Junín Region, Perú. Tarma is the capital city of the Province of Tarma, and is also called the Pearl of the Andes. The city is located at around , at an elevation of around 3000 m...

, and studied medicine at the University of Genoa
University of Genoa
The University of Genoa is one of the largest universities in Italy.Located in Liguria on the Italian Riviera, the university was founded in 1471. It currently has about 40,000 students, 1,800 teaching and research staff and about 1,580 administrative staff.- Campus :The University of Genoa is...

 in Italy. He first practised in rural parts of the Peruvian Andes, where he was radicalised by his experiences of the debilitating effects of poverty. He later specialised in treatment of leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...

. He and other Latin Americans disagreed with the recommendations of the 1938 World Leprosy Congress in Cairo, and agreed a different process in Três Corações
Três Corações
Três Corações is a city in the south of Minas Gerais state in Brazil. Founded in 1760, the city has a population of about 70,000 and covers 826.0 km². The elevation is 864 m and the postal code is 37410-000...

, which Pesce implemented successfully at Andahuaylas
Andahuaylas
Andahuaylas is a Peruvian city, capital of the Andahuaylas Province. It is known as the pradera de los celajes, the prairie of colored clouds. It's approximate population of 34,000 inhabitants makes it the second largest city in the region after the region's capital Abancay.-Location:Andahuyalas is...

 in 1938 and the Apurímac Region
Apurímac Region
Apurímac is a region in southern-central Peru. It is bordered on the east by the Cusco Region, on the west by the Ayacucho Region, and on the south by the Arequipa and Ayacucho regions...

 in 1940. The 1948 World Leprosy Congress in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

 endorsed the Latin-American strategy; Pesce was later a member of the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...

's expert committee on the disease. In 1945 he joined the faculty of the National University of San Marcos
National University of San Marcos
The National University of San Marcos is the most important and respected higher-education institution in Peru. Its main campus, the University City, is located in Lima...

, where he was professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 of tropical medicine
Tropical medicine
Tropical medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with health problems that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or prove more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions....

 from 1953 till his retirement in 1967. In 2002, Pesce was among four individuals and two groups named as "Heroes of public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...

 in Peru".

Political activism

Pesce joined the Peruvian Communist Party
Peruvian Communist Party
The Peruvian Communist Party is a communist party in Peru. It was founded in 1928 by José Carlos Mariátegui, under the name Partido Socialista del Perú . In 1930 the name was changed to PCP...

 founded in 1928 by José Carlos Mariátegui
José Carlos Mariátegui
José Carlos Mariátegui La Chira was a Peruvian journalist, political philosopher, and activist. A prolific writer before his early death at age 35, he is considered one of the most influential Latin American socialists of the 20th century...

. In 1929, Pesce and Julio Portocarrero were unsuccessful in promoting Mariátegui's ideas in Buenos Aires at a convention of Latin American communists. Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...

 recounts in The Motorcycle Diaries that he first read Marx in 1951 while working in Pesce's leprosarium. In the film version
The Motorcycle Diaries (film)
At the end of the film, after his sojourn at the leper colony, Guevara confirms his nascent egalitarian, anti-authority impulses, while making a birthday toast, which is also his first political speech. In it he evokes a pan-Latin American identity that transcends both the arbitrary boundaries of...

, Pesce was played by Gustavo Bueno. Pesce was also a writer and polemicist, and became Vice-President of the Peruvian Association of Writers and Artists.
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