[4] Jorge del Prado Chávez was born on August 15, 1910, in the Yanahuara district of Arequipa, Peru.

He later studied journalism at Colegios de la Independencia Nacional also in Arequipa and the College of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Lima.

[1] Inspired by activist and future colleague José Carlos Mariátegui,[6] he founded a revolutionary group in Arequipa in 1928 consisting of Marxist intellectuals and trade unionists.

[7] Shortly after that, in 1929, he quit his job as an artist and joined the Peruvian Communist Party as a full-time member.

[6] In the aftermath of the victory of the Cuban revolution and the Sino-Soviet split, del Prado Chávez remained firmly attached to the Soviet line.