The intellectual Carlos Escudé died this Friday, January 1 after spending more than two months hospitalized with coronavirus. At the end of September his wife, the sociologist Monica La Madrid, because of the same disease.
Escudé was an Argentine political scientist and writer who was trained in the Yale University and in the 90’s he was an advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Guido di Tella. In addition, he was a researcher at the Conicet, Professor at different universities in the country and served as Director of the Center for Studies of Religion, State and Society (CERES). Before doing his doctorate in the United States, he had studied at Oxford and the UCA.
As an intellectual, Escudé had a prolific career, with more than 30 books and hundreds of academic and journalistic publications In different languages. Both in his role as an academic and as a political advisor on international relations issues, Escudé defended the theory of Peripheral realism, a school of thought that states that non-central states -like Argentina- should avoid avoiding confronting the powers, so as not to pay high economic and social costs.
The famous “carnal relations” with the United States that Foreign Minister Di Tella implemented during the Menem period were part of Escudé’s theoretical approaches, which is why many attributed his intellectual authorship to him.
Throughout his career, Escudé received several awards, among which the Guggenheim scholarship to study relations between the United States and Argentina (1984), the Order of Bernardo O’Higgins for his defense of peace between Argentina and Chile (1986), the Bernardo Houssay Prize of the Conicet (1987) and the Konex diploma for his work as a political scientist (1996).
His wife, Mónica La Madrid, died on September 30 after fighting the coronavirus. He was born in 1949, in the Buenos Aires town of Dolores, and married Escudé in 1977. She was a sociologist graduated from the Argentine Catholic University (UCA).
During the 1980s, La Madrid had been a Research Assistant at the Roper Center for Public Opinion and Adviser in Public Opinion of the Undersecretariat of Culture of Argentina. He was also a founding member of SAIMO (Argentine Society of Marketing and Opinion Researchers)
In 1981 she had worked in Market Research at IPSA Argentina and seven years later she became the Manager of the Ad-Hoc Studies Division of that firm. In 1997 he set up his own company, Markwald, La Madrid & Asociados, in partnership with Mónica Markwald, who was his colleague at IPSA and at Nielsen.
In April, the City Government decided to implement a controversial mandatory and specific Circulation Permit for those over 70 years of age. The intention was that this tool would dissuade them from going out on the street and guarantee preventive distancing from possible infections. The measure was complemented by others and was part of the Comprehensive Plan for the Care and Accompaniment of Older Adults carried out by the City Government.
This measure was aimed at caring for those over 70, who were the most affected by the pandemic, and was harshly criticized by many intellectuals who are in that age group. One of them was Carlos Escudé, who manifested himself through his social networks.
“Freedom, freedom, Constitution, Constitution, against the fascist regime of Larreta”, was filmed shouting Escudé at the door of his home with a sign hanging on his chest that said his age: 71 years.
“I am going to protest against the unconstitutional abomination of the Rodríguez Larreta government. It’s like when the Jews had to enter the ghetto within a certain hour. With this banner I am going to walk around the city in defiance of the resolution. You have to go to the front, cheer up, challenge, be willing to go to jail. I prefer a death from coronavirus rather than a life protected by Larreta “, he said, at that time, on his Facebook account.
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