He was born on August 7, 1949 in Madrid, Spain. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Economic Sciences and a Diploma in Sociology from the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. Later he completed a Diploma in Sociology at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, belonging to the Sorbonne University, France; and another in Socio-Economic Planning at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, Netherlands. Here he himself obtained his Master's Degree in Social Sciences. The Doctorate in Economics was acquired at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium.

His professional life is characterized by his career as a collaborator, researcher and professor at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences. He started in 1981 at the Ecuador Headquarters, moving to the Guatemala Headquarters from 1987 to 1992, and it was in this last year when he joined the Costa Rica Headquarters where he remains active to date.

Among the main and recent books of his individual authorship, the following stand out: “Markets and barbarians. The persistence of surplus inequalities in Latin America” (2014), “Lives under siege: youth, labor exclusion and urban violence in Central America” (2018), “A history of inequality in Latin America. The barbarism of the markets, from the 19th century to today” (2016) and “The rebellion of those that nobody wants to see. Responses to survive extreme inequalities in Latin America” (2019).

He received the Honoris Causa Doctorate award in 2020, for his academic career as a professor, researcher, his extensive and diverse list of publications on the Central American and Latin American region, as well as his contribution to the training of social scientists and his work in different FLACSO Academic Units.

The Superior Council grants this recognition through Resolution CS XLIII/27.2020.