Ernesto Cofiño
Encyclopedia
Innovator
An innovator in a general sense, is a person or an organization who is one of the first to introduce into reality something better than before. That often opens up a new area for others and achieves an innovation.-History:...
in pediatric research in Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
. He founded hospitals, was director of Caritas
Caritas (charity)
Caritas Internationalis is a confederate of 164 Roman Catholic relief, development and social service organisations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide....
, and promoted youth development. Having died with a reputation for sanctity, his cause of beatification
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
was granted a nihil obstat
Nihil obstat
Nihil obstat is a declaration of no objection to an initiative or an appointment....
by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
Congregation for the Causes of Saints
The Congregation for the Causes of Saints is the congregation of the Roman Curia which oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passing through the steps of a declaration of "heroic virtues" and beatification...
on July 7, 2000.
Life and works
Ernesto Guillermo Cofiño was born in Guatemala CityGuatemala City
Guatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...
on June 5, 1899. He married in 1933 doña Clemencia Samayoa Rubio, and raised five children. He lived as a widower for 25 years, helping raise 21 grandchildren.
In 1919, he started his studies at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Sorbonne, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. In 1929 he graduated as a surgeon.
Cofiño was the first University Professor of Pediatrics in the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala
Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala
The Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala It is the biggest and oldest university of Guatemala, also it is the fourth founded in the Americas....
medical school, where he taught for 24 years. He was a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics
American Academy of Pediatrics
The American Academy of Pediatrics is the major professional association of pediatricians in the United States. The AAP was founded in 1930 by 35 pediatricians to address pediatric healthcare standards. It currently has 60,000 members in primary care and sub-specialist areas...
and the French Language Association of Pediatrics.
He was involved in several medical positions.
- Sanatorio Antituberculoso Infantil in San Juan Sacatepéquez (Children's Antituberculosis Hospital) - Founder (1942)
- Unidad Asistencial de San Juan (St. John Assistantial Unit) - Founder (1946)
- Centro Educativo Asistencial (formerly Hospicio Nacional) - Director from 1951 to 1955
- Sociedad Protectora del Niño (Society for the Protection of children) - Director (1940–1946)
- Lucha Nacional contra la Tuberculosis (National Fight against Tuberculosis) - Director (1945–1946)
- Asociación de Guarderías Infantiles de Bienestar Social - Interventor (1954)
- Caritas de Guatemala - Director for 3 years. Organized the distribution of food for 90,000 from the poor villages
- Instituto Interamericano del Niño (Interamerican Institute for the Child)- Guatemalan Delegate (1945–1955)
- Fundación para el Desarrollo Integral (FUDI), a help to the victims of the earthquake of 1971, now the organizer of Centro de Formación Rural Utz Samaj - Cofounder
In 1945, he founded together with others the Pediatric Association of Guatemala.
For the youth, he promoted the following:
- Centro Universitario Ciudad Vieja - First Rector (1958)
- Instituto Femenino de Estudios Superiores (IFES)
- Residencia de Estudiantes Verapaz
- Centro de Formación Profesional para la Mujer Junkabal
- Centro Educativo Técnico Laboral Kinal
He was also much involved in the pro-life movement, considered as "one of the founders of the pro-life campaign" in Guatemala.
In 1956 he requested admission to Opus Dei
Opus Dei
Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the...
. Through this, he was said to have learned how to sanctify his work, "imbuing his exquisite social sensibility and his great professional sense with an urgent zeal for the rechristianization of society."
When he was 80 years old, he was diagnosed with cancer in the jaw. He continued working until he finally succumbed to a resurgence of the cancer when he was 92.
Possible link to Human rights abuses
There is a link to his name by one of the victims of the syphilis scandal in Guatemala; one of the victims mentions his name in an interview in the Spanish Newspaper El Pais (article in Spanish), follow this links:http://www.elpais.com/articulo/sociedad/Fueron/experimentos/diablo/elpepusoc/20110326elpepisoc_3/Tes and http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/1/us-apologizes-1940s-syphilis-study-guatemala/?page=1 (no copyright infringement intended)