(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2024-12-06) Bernex Weiss, Nicole
This article presents briefly the distinguished Augustinian missionary, Cavalier of the Amazon, honorary professor of the Department of Humanities of the PUCP, Father Joaquín García Sánchez OSA. His extraordinary geographical itinerary is recounted from his childhood walking the landscapes of the Sabero mining basin (León, Spain) to his arrival and immersion in the Loreto Amazon. Builder of intercultural bridges, Father Joaquín was a man of dialogues that were transformed into works (Center for Theological Studies of the Amazon, Amazonian Library, Irapay, Shupihui, Kanatari, Monumenta Amazónica, among others). For more than 55 years, he dedicated himself to living in, with, and for the Amazon from all its biophysical, sociocultural, economic, environmental, and political diversities. His studies, listening, generosity and closeness to the most relegated, his defence of peace and democracy were combined with the development of an indigenous pastoral and ecotheology. Its impressive geographical horizon integrates the living and lived dimensions of the Amazonian territories, memories and interscalarity. With “Amazonium”, Father Joaquín left us an exceptional scientific, moral and alteretic heritage, inviting us to make this dream our own.