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“When a friend leaves / A brand remains lit / That cannot be turned off / Not even with the waters of a river", Alberto Cortez.

We would like to think that you took a plane to Rome or Managua; or that you got on your "jewel" to go to your house in Curauma to spend a season with your children. We would like to see you appear asking "Any news?". We would even like to be sitting next to you in the small office, and listen to your long videoconferences with Lautaro and people from LA Referencia, in a very loud voice and hear you say "Do I explain myself?" Alberto, Pelaíto, it is so tremendously difficult to write you a goodbye note, when what I would like (what we all would like) is for you to be here, with us, when the pandemic ends, to be able to hug you, laugh with you and so that you finally meet your promise to Tania and me of making us a delicious pasta at your house. It wasn't time to leave Pelaíto, it wasn't!

Alberto was my first boss in the world of academic networks. I admired him from the beginning for his clarity and brilliance when it came to working, for his exhausting intensity at the time of launching the matters in which he believed. Those who worked with him in LA Referencia and in open access matters, know that when I talk about his intensity, I must write it in loud, INTENSITY, because he put not only his heart and soul into it, he would have given even his skin.

As a colleague and friend, “el Pelao” was always generous and noble. Supportive and committed. In 20 years of friendship, I saw him go through immeasurable happiness, like when Diego was born, or when Fernanda, “la Feña”, went to study in Italy, and also deep pains. Alberto's eyes shone when he talked about his children, or when he remembered his life in Rome and Managua. A few years ago we use to go out for a coffee with him and Tania, in our frequent friendly chatswe talked for hours about the way in which we could achieve a RedCLARA like the one we have today: efficient, fair, supportive, collaborative. At that time, he was telling us his life stories in those distant cities, in Tania's beloved Managua, her birthplace, and the place where Alberto dreamed of returning. They were long coffees where we talked about life, we told each other our adventures and misadventures in love, we resolved our personal and work life and the entire Universe problems.

Write a goodbye note, trying to distance myself from the thousands of memories and the horrible certainty of having left things pending to do and tell him, with the regret of not having called him one last time, with the sadness of not having hugged him stronger the last day we saw him on February 13, 2020 (the photograph is from that day, along with Carolina Guerra and Tania Altamirano), it hurts deeply inside.

At RedCLARA we were partners again, when he arrived to work at LA Referencia, of which he was Executive Director and maximum promoter. And with all certainty, I can say that it was these last years, in which he felt happier and fuller, professionally speaking.

Before arriving at La Referencia, Alberto was Communications Manager at REUNA, Director of the Information Department at CONICYT (Chile), and a member of the Inter-Institutional Committee of ScienTI, among others.

I do not know how to finish this note ... Excuse me Alberto, and excuse us all ... to say that we have lost a great friend, which is our second loss so painful in such a short time, perhaps will excuse ourselves ... perhaps it is time to think that you went out for a walk with Marcela, and that both of you are just having a very long walk… We love you, friend, so long...