Adolfo Maria Pérez Esquivel (Buenos Aires, on November 26, 1931) is a pacifist from Argentina. An architect and sculptor, he attended the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Fine Art School) and the Universidad Nacional de la Plata (National de la Plata University). He taught architecture for twenty-five years at both secondary schools at academic level. In the sixties, Pérez Esquivel began working with Latin American Christian peace groups. In 1974 he left teaching and devoted himself entirely to helping the poor and the fight against social and political injustice, embracing non-violence. After the coup by Jorge Rafael Videla he contributed to the formation of "El Ejercito de Paz y Justicia", a human rights association that also acted to help the families of victims of the regime and the Falklands War. He was arrested by the Brazilian police in 1975 and imprisoned in Ecuador. In 1977 he was arrested by the po-lice in Argentina, who tortured him and keep him in custody for 14 months without trial. While in prison he received the Peace Memorial from Pope John XXIII. In 1980 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. In 1999 he also received the Pacem in Terris Award. In 1995 he published "Caminando junto al Pueblo", which told the story of his experiences. Since 2003 he has been chairman of the International League for Human Rights and the liberation of peoples. He is also a member of the Permanent People’s Tribunal. He is now an animator of the International Academy of Environmental Sciences (Iaes), based in Venice, which on 2 and 3 October 2009 hosted the World Venice Forum on "The health of planet Earth. Environmental disasters: irresponsibility and protection" in support of the establishment of an International Criminal Court for the Environment.

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