Hugo Guerrero Martinheitz
Encyclopedia
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
– 21 August 2010, Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
) 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 journalist, commentator and radio host, who spent most of his professional career in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
.
Life and work
Hugo Guerrero Marthineitz was born in LimaLima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
, 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....
, to Lorenzo Guerrero, the son of mestizo
Mestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
-West Indian parents. Politically active during his secondary school studies, Guerrero was forced to go into hiding for a time in 1941; that year, however, he had found his calling in radio broadcasting, and soon became one of Lima's most recognizable radio voices, hosting a news and commentary program on Radio Programas del Perú
Radio Programas del Perú
Radio Programas del Peru is a network of radio stations in Peru within the Grupo RPP formed in Lima in 1963 by Manuel Delgado Parker. In the mid-nineties, the network changed its identification symbol to RPP, the initials of its name. RPP has the largest radio coverage in Peru, covering 97...
.
Guerrero Marthineitz left Lima for Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, in 1955, and later settled in neighboring Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
. He returned to Buenos Aires, at the time the World's leading center of Spanish-language broadcasting, in 1964. His successful career in Lima quickly opened doors for him in Argentine radio and he soon hosted El show del minuto ("The Show of the Minute"), centering around literary reviews and talk. The show's success earned him his first television show, Séptima noche ("Seventh Night"). Enjoying high ratings, a 1967 interview with writer Dalmiro Sáenz resulted in its termination when the outspoken philosopher openly praised Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
. The same dictatorship
Juan Carlos Onganía
Juan Carlos Onganía Carballo was de facto president of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970. He rose to power as military dictator after toppling, in a coup d’état self-named Revolución Argentina , the democratically elected president Arturo Illia .-Economic and social...
that had Séptima noche pulled, ordered the suspension of El show del minuto in 1970. Guerrero Marthineitz was, however, soon given a prime-time news and commentary program in Buenos Aires' Radio Belgrano, then among the city's premiere stations. He brought the hitherto declining Radio Belgrano record ratings, even after the advent of Argentina's repressive last dictatorship
National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...
in 1976. His program combined interviews, debate and commentary, as well as his thorough reviews of the day's music, theatre and film. He received a KONEX Award (Argentine broadcasting's highest honor) for his program in 1981.
Guerrero Marthineitz was placed under active surveillance by the military regime and he avoided provocations during his popular programs, preferring instead to leave audiences with subtle asides hinting at the day's climate of fear. His show began to decline in popularity following Argentina's return to democracy in 1983
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
, in part owing to the sudden explosion of variety in local programming. In a bid to rescue falling ratings, he signed a television contract to host A solas ("Solo Encounter"); but his no-frills format helped lead to low ratings and the show's cancellation. His career declined steadily afterwards, particularly after a 1992 altercation he involved himself in when television talk show host Mauro Viale baited Guerrero Marthineitz regarding his half-Jewish background, to which he replied: I need no lectures from you, Mr. Goldfarb (referring to Viale's real Jewish surname).
He returned to a television talk show format with his Reencuentro a solas ("Solo Re-encounter") in 1996, a promising return derailed by his increasing irascibility. A dispute with Mirtha Legrand
Mirtha Legrand
Rosa María Juana Martínez, better known by the stage name Mirtha Legrand is an Argentine actress and television personality and twin sister of the actress Silvia Legrand.-Early life:...
(arguably the most influential woman in Argentine television) and musician José Larralde
José Larralde
José Larralde is an Argentine songwriter of folk music.At the early age of 7 years Larralde had already written songs with social content. Throughout the years he would write various songs about crafts, situations and people he had stumbled upon in his life...
led to the show's closure that October. Returning to radio, he hosted Guerrero de noche ("Guerrero at Night") on Radio del Plata; but, in 1998, the evening program was canceled. The following year, his wife filed for divorce and Guerrero Marthineitz, a long-time smoker, was diagnosed with bladder cancer. The renowned radio host seriously considered returning to his family property in Lima when, in late 2000, he was offered a co-hosting position by popular Buenos Aires television personality Samuel Gelblung ("Chiche"). The show, Edición Chiche ("Chiche's Edition"), saw its ratings soar.
His health recovered, Guerrero Marthineitz returned to his classic Encuentro a solas. He retired from regular broadcasting in 2006, though he returned to the medium amid personal financial problems in 2009 with Radio Rivadavia's Ahí donde está el silencio, and at the kindness of an erstwhile foe, Mauro Viale. Guerrero continued to host cultural events. His precise, unhurried speech, his carefully timed laughter and silences, attention to detail and intimate narrations recall literary readings (which he still hosted), rather than radio or television programs and made Hugo Guerrero Marthineitz, an immigrant with an unmistakable accent, one of the most influential radio personalities in Argentina.
Death
Both Guerrero Marthineitz's finances and health deteriorated quickly during 2009 and 2010, when a dearth in radio contracts and his inability to collect back pay resulted in his becoming homeless. Among those the noted emcee alleged to have owed him thousands of pesos were the government of San Luis ProvinceSan Luis Province
San Luis is a province of Argentina located near the geographical center of the country . Neighboring provinces are, from the north clockwise, La Rioja, Córdoba, La Pampa, Mendoza and San Juan.-History:...
and Mauro Viale, with whom Guerrero was reportedly engaged in a fistfight shortly after his May 2010 eviction. Guerrero was taken to a Buenos Aires psychiatric clinic in July, and died there in August of cardiac arrest at age 86.