Pedro José Martínez Moreno. Practicante de la Armada: algo más que un personaje

Abstract

The Navy Surgery Practitioners, from the beginning of the twentieth century until the civil war, the different maritime of our geography, they were prominent protagonist of the collegiate institution. They were very well trained professionals with extensive work skills, great baggage of experiences and with a high sense of corporatism as a weapon to defend rights that were not recognized to them. The objective of this study is describing the life of Pedro J. Martínez Moreno from the dual perspective of military and surgery practitioner. To do this, we have used a methodology based on the heuristic process of primary sources of archival origin located in the Central Archive of the Headquarters of the Navy and file of the College of Nursing of Cádiz. We have also obtained important information from the professional press of the moment, as is the El Practicante Gaditano and resorted to personal documentation with Professor Victoria Fernández Díaz. All the documentation obtained has been analyzed according to the orientation of historical discipline, especially biographical and life. The results obtained in this research lead us to profile Martínez Moreno as an individual who, for his qualities and knowledge, he exceled in his professional activity and in the social environment. Cartagenero by birth and navy surgery practitioner, was more than just a character. From his homeland, where he was president of the Departmental College of Cartagena, founder and owner of the professional magazine "El Practicante Moderno", until arriving in the capital of Cádiz where he was elected president of College of Surgery Practitioners of Cádiz. It never went unnoticed and stood out in all areas where he resided. He was also a military professional highly regarded by his superiors and thus was officially recognized. In compliance with the Decree of the Provisional Government of the Republic of 23 April 1931, it provided the mandatory promise of accession and fidelity to the Republic. That loyalty would cost him to go into exile at the end of the civil war, and die years later, in a foreign land (Tunisia), without due recognition and the greatest oblivion. Therefore, the conclusions drawn from our work are that the life of Pedro José Martínez Moreno developed in an especially relevant way from both the military and health perspective, given that the different positions in the collegiate presidencies denote highly infrequent social and professional skills, in the same way that they denote their continuous and deep commitment to the nursing profession from collegiate representation.