Roberto Canessa | |
---|---|
Born | Roberto Jorge Canessa Urta 17 January 1953 Montevideo, Uruguay |
Alma mater | University of the Republic |
Occupations |
|
Spouse | Laura Surraco (m. 1976) |
Children | 3 |
Website | robertocanessa |
Roberto Jorge Canessa Urta (born 17 January 1953) is a Uruguayan pediatric cardiologist, motivational speaker and former rugby player. He is one of the 16 survivors of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which crashed in the Andes mountains on 13 October 1972. [1] He was portrayed by Josh Hamilton in the 1993 feature film Alive and by Argentine actor Matías Recalt in the 2023 Spanish feature film Society of the Snow . [2]
Canessa Urta was born in Montevideo on 17 January 1953, the son of physician Juan Carlos Canessa Montero (1928-2009) [3] and María Mercedes Urta Stagnero (died 2011). [4] He is of Italian descent, tracing his ancestry to Rapallo, Liguria. [5] He attended Stella Maris College, located in barrio Carrasco, and was part of the school's alumni rugby club, Old Christians. [6] In 1971 he began to study medicine at the University of the Republic.
At the time of the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, Canessa was a 19-year-old medical student. [7] Between 1971 and 1979, he played eight matches with the Uruguay national rugby union team, and was also selected for the 1980 South American Jaguars rugby union tour of South Africa. [8]
Canessa suggested to his fellow survivors that to stay alive, they should eat the flesh of the deceased victims of the crash, which they did after days of "agonis[ing]" over having to resort to such a means. [9] Together with Fernando Parrado, he spent 10 days trekking through the Andes in search of help for the survivors. [10]
After returning to Uruguay from the Andes, Canessa graduated from the University of the Republic with a medical degree, and later specialized in cardiology and pediatric cardiology. He serves as vice president of the Fundación Corazoncitos, which provides care for children with congenital heart disease. [11]
Throughout his career, Canessa has worked as a pediatric cardiologist and a researcher at the Italian Hospital of Montevideo and the Hospital Pereira Rosell. [12] He has also taught classes in graduate courses at the University of the Republic. [13]
In 2019, he was conferred the title of honorary fellow of the American College of Cardiology. [14] In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, he led a group of professional volunteers to create respirators for ICUs. [15]
In the 1994 general election, Canessa ran for President of Uruguay for the Blue Party. [16] He got 1645 votes, 0.08% of the vote, lagging far behind former President, Julio María Sanguinetti, whose party returned to power with 30.83% of the public vote.
In 2012, he joined Sergio Abreu in founding the National Dignity faction within the National Party. [17] In 2019, Open Cabildo presidential candidate Guido Manini Ríos offered him the vice presidency, but Canessa turned it down. [18]
In March 2016, Canessa published his memoir,Tenía que sobrevivir: Cómo un accidente aéreo en los Andes inspiró mi vocación para salvar vidas (I Had to Survive: How a Plane Crash in the Andes Inspired My Calling to Save Lives), co-written with the Uruguayan author Pablo Vierci. [19] [20]
Canessa was portrayed by Josh Hamilton in the 1993 feature film Alive , directed by Frank Marshall and based on Piers Paul Read's 1974 non-fiction book Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors . [21] In 2023 he was portrayed by Matías Recalt in the survival thriller film Society of the Snow directed by J. A. Bayona and based on the book by Pablo Vierci. [22]
Canessa began dating Laura Surraco in her adolescence and early youth, and they were a couple at the time of the accident. [23] They were married in 1976 and have three children: Hilario, Roberto Martín, and Laura Inés. [24]
Alive is a 1993 American biographical survival drama film based on Piers Paul Read's 1974 book Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors, which details a Uruguayan rugby team's crash aboard Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 into the Andes mountains on October 13, 1972.
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was the chartered flight of a Fairchild FH-227D from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile, that crashed in the Andes mountains on 13 October 1972. The accident and subsequent survival became known as the Andes flight disaster and the Miracle of the Andes.
The Christian Brothers College of Montevideo, commonly referred as Stella Maris College – Christian Brothers or just Christian, is a private, co-educational, not-for-profit Catholic primary and secondary school run by the Christian Brothers of Ireland. The school is located in the residential neighborhood of Carrasco Norte, Montevideo, Uruguay. The school's headmaster is Patricia Ponce de Leon. The school is a member of the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), currently offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP). The college also offers valuable international exams such as the IGCSE programs and the A levels. It has a long list of distinguished former pupils, including economists, engineers, architects, lawyers, politicians and even F1 champions.
Fernando "Nando" Seler Parrado Dolgay is a Uruguayan businessman, producer, motivational speaker and television presenter, and former rugby player and racing driver. He is one of the sixteen survivors of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 which crashed in the Andes on 13 October 1972. After spending two months trapped in the mountains with the other crash survivors, he, along with Roberto Canessa, climbed through the Andes mountains over a 10-day period to find help.
No Te Va Gustar, also known by their initials NTVG, is an Uruguayan rock band formed in 1994 in Montevideo. The group consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Emiliano Brancciari, bassist Guzmán Silveira, drummer Diego Bartaburu, trumpeter Martín Gil, trombonist Denis Ramos, tenor saxophonist Mauricio Ortiz, guitarist Pablo Coniberti and keyboardist Francisco Nasser. Considered as the most popular and international Uruguayan rock band, and one of the most recognized Latin American groups, No Te Va Gustar has released ten studio albums via Bizarro Records, four becoming a chart-topper in their native country.
Gustavo Carlos Zerbino Stajano is a Uruguayan businessman, motivational speaker, sports executive and former rugby union player. He is known for being one of the sixteen survivors of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 plane crash that occurred on October 13, 1972 in the Andes.
Carlos "Carlitos" Miguel Páez Rodríguez is one of the 16 survivors of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which crashed in the Andes mountains on 13 October 1972.
The Uruguay Sevens, branded as Seven Punta, is an annual international rugby sevens tournament. Currently held in the capital Montevideo, it was hosted as the Punta del Este Sevens in the resort city of the same name for three decades from 1989 onwards. The tournament retains that history in its branding.
Old Christians Club, or simply Old Christians, is a Uruguayan sports club from the Carrasco neighbourhood of Montevideo.
The Andes Museum 1972 is located in The Old City in Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay.
Cabildo Abierto is an Uruguayan political party founded in 2019. The party is described as populist, nationalist and conservative, as well as mostly characterized as far-right on the mainstream political spectre. However, it defines itself as Artiguist and is referred to as a third position party by some sources. It participated for the first time in an election the same year of its foundation, obtaining 11.04% of the votes, three senators and eleven representatives. It is led by Guido Manini Ríos, descendant of a traditional Colorado Party family and former Commander in Chief of the Army.
Guido Manini Stratta is an Uruguayan politician and retired general officer who served as Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, serving in this post from 1 February 2015 until being sacked by the president on 12 March 2019.
Guillermo José Domenech Martínez is a Uruguayan lawyer, notary and politician. He is the President of the party Open Cabildo.
Super Rugby Americas (SRA) is a franchise rugby union tournament format in the Americas that began its first season in February 2023 after efforts by World Rugby. It is organized and led by Sudamérica Rugby, the highest rugby entity in South America.
Pablo Vierci is a Uruguayan journalist, author and screenwriter.
Julio Daniel Salinas Grecco is a Uruguayan neurologist and politician of Open Cabildo (CA), who served as Minister of Public Health of Uruguay from 1 March 2020 to 13 March 2023.
Society of the Snow is a 2023 survival thriller film directed by J. A. Bayona, centered around the Uruguayan 1972 Andes flight disaster. It is an adaptation of Pablo Vierci's book of the same name, which documents the accounts of all 16 survivors of the crash, many of whom Vierci knew from childhood. The cast is composed of Uruguayan and Argentine actors, most of whom are newcomers.
The 2023 Sudamérica rugby men's sevens Olympic qualifying tournament was held 17–18 June 2023 at the Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo, Uruguay. The gold medalists in the men’s tournament qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics, with the runner-up and third place participants both qualifying to the 2024 Olympics repechage tournament.
Enzo Vogrincic Roldán is a Uruguayan actor, best known for playing Numa Turcatti in the 2023 film Society of the Snow.
Numa Turcatti Pesquera was an Uruguayan law student, known for being one of the victims of the 1972 Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 plane crash. He is portrayed by Enzo Vogrincic in Society of the Snow (2023), where he serves as a main character and the film's narrator.