Jorge Pérez Concha (June 5, 1908 in

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

– April 1, 1995 in Guayaquil) was an Ecuadorian historian, biographer, writer, and diplomat. He wrote biographies of

Eloy Alfaro José Eloy Alfaro Delgado (25 June 1842 – 28 January 1912) often referred to as "The Old Warrior," was an Ecuadorian politician who served as the President of Ecuador from 1895 to 1901 and from 1906 to 1911. Eloy Alfaro emerged as the leader ...

Luis Vargas Torres Colonel Luís Vargas Torres (1855 in Esmeraldas, Ecuador – March 20, 1887, in Cuenca, Ecuador) was an Ecuadorian revolutionary and national hero and martyr in the Liberalism and radicalism in Ecuador, cause of liberalism. Biography Vargas Torre ...

, and his uncle Carlos Concha Torres, among others. He was awarded Ecuador's top National Prize the "

Premio Eugenio Espejo The ''Premio Nacional Eugenio Espejo'' ("Eugenio Espejo National Award") is the national prize of the nation of Ecuador. Decrees 677 and 699 (of August 1975 and September 1997, respectively) established the prize, which is conferred by the Preside ...

" in 1989 in the Culture category.

Biography

Jorge Pérez Concha was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador on June 5, 1908. His father was Dr. Federico Pérez Aspiazu, and his mother was Teresa Concha Torres. His father died in 1919, and he went to live at a relative's

hacienda A ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or '' finca''), similar to a Roman '' latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards ...

in the north of

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

. In 1926 he and Demetrio Aguilera Malta published a book of poems and prose titled "Primavera Interior" (Interior Spring), which contained 18 of his own poems, and 21 stories by Aguilera Malta. In 1927 Pérez Concha and

Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco (October 12, 1908 – May 1, 1993), born Alfredo Pareja y Díez Canseco, was an Ecuadorian novelist, essayist, journalist, historian and diplomat. An innovator of the 20th-century Latin American novel, he was a foundi ...

founded the magazine "Voluntad" in collaboration with Leopoldo Benites Vinueza, but they published only six issues. In 1929 Pérez Concha and Espinel Hector Mendoza founded the first commercial advertising agency in Guayaquil, and it worked for several years until they had to close it down due to the severe economic crisis of the 1930s. In 1939 he met and married María Pesantes García with whom he had children. In 1942 he won the National Biographies Contest with his book "Eloy Alfaro, su vida y su obra" (Eloy Alfaro, His Life and His Work) hosted by the Ecuadorian government to mark the centenary of the birth of

. In 1958 he was appointed the chief of the Guayaquil Branch of the Ecuadorian House of Culture and became its president on February 17, 1962. In 1960 he became an elected member of the Advisory Board of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At this time he was also the head of the Municipal Library. In 1962 he was awarded the Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit by the Ecuadorian President

Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy (24 August 1919 – 5 March 2004) was an Ecuadorian politician. Arosemena Monroy was elected as Vice President of Ecuador in 1960 and due to the ousting of President José María Velasco Ibarra, became List of head ...

. Between 1973-1979 he was a guest speaker at the National Higher Education Institute (''Instituto de Altos Estudios Nacionales''). In 1974 he was a member of the delegation to the 15th Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

(OAS), held in

. Between 1976-1979 he was the vice-president of the Foreign Advisory Board. In 1977 the

University of Guayaquil The University of Guayaquil ( Spanish: ''Universidad de Guayaquil''), known colloquially as the ''Estatal'' (i.e., "the State niversity), is a public university in Guayaquil, Guayas Province, Ecuador. Estatal was founded in 1883. It is the ol ...

conferred to him the honorary degree

Doctor Honoris Causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

. In 1978 he attended the 33rd Session of the

UN General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its 79th session, its powers, ...

in New York.

Ambassadorship to Cuba

In 1979 he was appointed Ecuador's ambassador to

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. Ecuador and Cuba had not had an exchange of ambassadors since their relationship was ruptured in 1963. He traveled to

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Jaime Moncayo Garcia and Cornelio Merchan to negotiate. After long discussions with the Cuban government and the assailants, they surrendered on Friday, February 20, with the condition that the Ecuadorian government would oversee a fair trial. But the next day, it was learned that not only had they been tortured but also sentenced to death in a summary trial. Ambassador Pérez Concha immediately intervened, and explained to

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

, that the death penalty was abolished in Ecuador in 1902, and that its application in this case would hurt the recently re-established relationship between Ecuador and Cuba. Fidel Castro then commuted all of the death sentences to 30 years imprisonment. Owing to the breach in agreement (that the assailants would receive a fair trial), Pérez Concha returned to Ecuador, and the Ecuadorian government did not appoint another ambassador to Cuba for a while. The foreign ministry then offered Pérez Concha the ambassadorship in Portugal, but he turned it down for a post in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in

with the "Ambassador" title.Complete biography in Spanish by Rodolfo Pérez Pimentel

Works

* "Historia Diplomática y Naval de la Provincia Libre de Guayaquil" (1994) * "Páginas de Historia Ecuatoriana" (1990) * "De la Goleta Alcance al cañonero Calderón" (1987) * "Un luchador incorruptible" (1987) * "1.910. La Movilización integral del Ecuador" (1988) (Its second edition was titled: "Frontera Marítima del Ecuador siglo XX") * "Frente Externo" (1985) * "Visión Internacional de Eloy Alfaro" (1982) * "Derecho Territorial Ecuatoriano" (1979) * "Política Internacional Contemporánea" (1972) * "La Invasión peruana y el protocolo de Río de Janeiro ante el Derecho Internacional Americano" (1963) * "Eloy Alfaro ante el Derecho Internacional Americano" (1959) * "Ensayo Histórico - Crítico de las relaciones diplomáticas del Ecuador con los estados limítrofes" (editions: 1958, 1959, 1965, 1979) * "Eloy Alfaro, su vida y su obra" (1942) * "Vargas Torres, fragmentos de la vida del héroe" (1936) * "El Ecuador ante el problema amazónico" (1932) * "Guayaquil entre Colombia y el Perú" (1932)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez Concha, Jorge 1908 births 1995 deaths Ecuadorian male writers Writers from Guayaquil Ambassadors of Ecuador to Cuba