Lebret-inspired works in Uruguay: from the Equipos del Bien Común to IEPAL. Networks and human capital

Abstract

Three works Lebret-inspired reflected the process followed by Father Lebret himself, from economic and social studies, illuminated by theology, to his immersion in the subject of "development", which linked him to "Third World Catholicism." In June 1947, Louis-Joseph Lebret OP, founder and director of Economy and Humanism, arrived for the first time in Latin America. In Montevideo, he made contacts that led to the creation, in 1949, of the Equipos del Bien Común, the first work inspired by Lebret and his proposals for social work and community action. In 1957, in Lebret's presence and at his initiative, the Centro Latinoamericano de Economía Humana was founded in Montevideo, as a coordinating center for the continental work of national Economy and Humanism groups. Beginning in 1963, also in Montevideo, a third Lebret project emerged: the IEPAL/Instituto de Estudios Políticos para América Latina, led by Fr. Paul Ramlot OP and linked to Lebret's new work, the IRFED/ International Institute for Research and Training, Education and Development, established in 1958.

Through the study of these projects and the profiles of their protagonists, we propose to reconstruct the networks, initially local, Latin American from 1957, and international, to a certain extent, from 1963 onward. These networks provided the human capital that gave rise to Latin American Lebret movement, far surpassed by the connections and projections of its protagonists in Latin American and global organizations.

Through the study of these projects and the profiles of their protagonists, we propose to reconstruct the networks, initially local, Latin American from 1957, and international, to a certain extent, from 1963 onward. These networks provided the human capital that gave rise to Latin American Lebret movement, far surpassed by the connections and projections of its protagonists in Latin American and global organizations.