Caritas Latin America and Caribbean

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Caritas Latin America and Caribbean - Wikipedia

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Caritas Latin America and Caribbean
Cáritas América Latina y el Caribe

Abbreviation	Cáritas LAC
Type	Nonprofit
Location	San Jose, Costa Rica
Origins	Catholic Social Teaching
Region served	Latin America and the Caribbean
Fields	development aid, humanitarian aid, social services
Official language	Spanish
President	Gustavo Rodríguez Vega
Parent organization	Caritas Internationalis
Website	caritaslatinoamerica.org

Caritas Latin America and Caribbean (Spanish: Cáritas América Latina y el Caribe; Portuguese: Cáritas América Latina e Caribe) is a network of Catholic nonprofit organisations active in Latin America and the Caribbean and one of the seven regions of the global Caritas Internationalis confederation.^[1]

Its name is used both for the regional secretariat and its network of 22 member organisations, but the secretariat is also known as Secretariado Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Caritas (SELACC).^[2]

Work

The role of Caritas Latin America and Caribbean is to foster peer exchange and learning among its member organisations, and to speak with a unified voice. The secretariat (SELACC) is also engaged in advocacy, for example concerning the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean Summits^[3] as well as in the institutional capacity strengthening of its member organisations.^[2]^[4]

Membership and structure

Unlike other regions of Caritas Internationalis, such as Caritas Europa with its secretariat in Brussels, or Caritas Africa with its secretariat in Lomé, the secretariat of Caritas Latin America and Caribbean is decentralised, albeit legally registered in San José, Costa Rica. This means that the staff is located in the offices of its various member organisations across the continent.

The member organisations are the national Caritas organisations of Latin America. These are subdivided into regional subgroups: Camex for Central America, Caribe for the Caribbean island organisations, Bolivariana for north-eastern South America and Cono Sur for the Southern tip of the continent as well as for Brazil.^[5]

The country offices of other Caritas organisations, such as of the American Catholic Relief Services or of Caritas Switzerland, are not members of Caritas Latin America and Caribbean.

List of member organisations

Sub-region	Country	Member organisation (English name)	Established
Caribe	Antilles	Caritas Antilles	?
Cono Sur	Argentina	Caritas Argentina	1956
Bolivariana	Bolivia	Caritas Bolivia	1958
Cono Sur	Brazil	Caritas Brazil	1956
Cono Sur	Chile	Caritas Chile	1956
Bolivariana	Colombia	Caritas Colombia	1956
Camex	Costa Rica	Caritas Costa Rica	1963
Caribe	Cuba	Caritas Cuba	1991
Caribe	Dominican Republic	Caritas Dominican Republic	1961
Bolivariana	Ecuador	Caritas Ecuador	1961
Camex	El Salvador	Caritas El Salvador	1960
Camex	Guatemala	Caritas Guatemala	1962
Caribe	Haiti	Haiti	1975
Camex	Honduras	Caritas Honduras	1959
Camex	Mexico	Caritas Mexico	1973
Camex	Nicaragua	Caritas Nicaragua	1960
Camex	Panama	Caritas Panama	1970
Cono Sur	Paraguay	Caritas Paraguay	1958
Bolivariana	Peru	Caritas Peru	1955
Caribe	Puerto Rico	Caritas Puerto Rico	1969
Cono Sur	Uruguay	Caritas Uruguay	1962
Bolivariana	Venezuela	Caritas Venezuela	1963

Leadership

Presidents

?–2007: Gregorio Rosa Chavez^[6]
2007–2012: Fernando María Bargalló^[7]
2012–2023: José Luis Azuaje Ayala^[8]
2023–present: Gustavo Rodríguez Vega

Regional Coordinators

2003–2007: Francisco Gerardo Hernández Rojas^[9]
2007–2011: Antonio Sandoval^[10]
2011–2023: Francisco Gerardo Hernández Rojas^[9]
2023–present: Nicolás Meyer^[11]

References

^ "Where we work: Latin America & Caribbean". caritas.org. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Informe cuatrienal SELACC 2019-2023.pdf" (PDF). Retrieved 11 May 2024.
^ "A partnership of hope for the good of our peoples and a more fraternal world". comece.eu. 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
^ "Marco estratégico 2024–2031". caritaslatinoamerica.org. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
^ López, Miroslava (13 May 2023). "Cáritas América Latina y el Caribe tiene nuevo presidente". vidanuevadigital.com. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
^ "AMERICA/HAITI – Continental Caritas Meeting concludes with election of new direction, next meeting in Argentina". Agenzia Fides. 27 March 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
^ "New president of Caritas Latin America elected". Catholic News Agency. 23 July 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
^ Merlo, Francesco (23 November 2021). "Caritas on aid in Latin America and Caribbean: Solidarity is our mission". Vatican News. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
^ ^a ^b Chaves Leiva, Lisandra (2 August 2023). "Sacerdote costarricense designado director de un centro del CELAM". iglesiacr.org. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
^ Uranga, Washington (26 March 2007). "Bargalló va del Cáritas local al latinoamericano". Página 12. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
^ "In a global resource struggle, is the EU ready to take Latin America, Caribbean seriously?". Euractiv. 17 July 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2024.

External links

Official website (in Spanish, English, and Portuguese)

Caritas Internationalis Member Organisations and Regional Secretariats

Caritas Africa Member Organisations

Caritas Angola
Caritas Benin
Caritas Botswana
Caritas Burkina Faso (OCADES)
Caritas Burundi
Caritas Cameroon
Caritas Cape Verde
Caritas Central African Republic
Caritas Chad
Caritas Comoros
Caritas Congo-Brazzaville
Caritas Congo
Caritas Côte d'Ivoire
Caritas Equatorial Guinea
Caritas Eritrea

Caritas Eswatini
Caritas Ethiopia (ECC- SDCO)
Caritas Gabon
Caritas Gambia (CaDO)
Caritas Ghana
Caritas Guinea (OCPH)
Caritas Guinea-Bissau
Caritas Kenya
Caritas Lesotho
Caritas Liberia
Caritas Madagascar
Caritas Malawi (CADECOM)
Caritas Mali
Caritas Mauritius
Caritas Mozambique
Caritas Namibia

Caritas Niger (CADEV)
Caritas Nigeria
Caritas Rwanda
Caritas São Tomé and Príncipe
Caritas Senegal
Caritas Seychelles
Caritas Sierra Leone
Caritas South Africa (Siyabhabha Trust)
Caritas South Sudan
Caritas Sudan
Caritas Tanzania
Caritas Togo (OCDI)
Caritas Uganda
Caritas Zambia
Caritas Zimbabwe (CADEC)

Caritas Asia Member Organisations

Caritas Bangladesh
Caritas Cambodia
Caritas Hong Kong
Caritas India
Caritas Indonesia
Caritas Japan
Caritas Kazakhstan
Caritas Kyrgyzstan
Caritas Laos

Caritas Korea
Caritas Macau
Caritas Malaysia
Caritas Mongolia
Caritas Myanmar (KMSS)
Caritas Nepal
Caritas Pakistan
Caritas Philippines (NASSA)
Caritas Singapore and CHARIS