The Center of Latin-American Studies (Spanish acronym: CELA) is a division of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico

National Autonomous University of Mexico

The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México is a university in Mexico. UNAM was founded on 22 September 1910 by Justo Sierra as a liberal alternative to the Roman Catholic-sponsored Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (National Autonomous...

. It is responsible for teaching and research in social sciences in the Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

n area. It was founded in 1960 by Pablo González Casanova. Its current director is José Maria Calderón.

CELA edits the journal Estudios Latinoamericanos and runs a permanent seminar on the region. In its time it has hosted many esteemed scholars including Clodomiro Almeyda

Clodomiro Almeyda

Clodomiro Almeyda Medina was a Chilean politician. A leading member of the Socialist Party, served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile from 1970 to 1973 during the Presidency of Salvador Allende....

 (Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

), Sergio Bagú (Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

), Agustín Cueva (Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

), Ricardo Fenner (Chile), Ruy Mauro Marini (Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

), Rafael Menjívar (El Salvador

El Salvador

El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

), Carlos Morales

Carlos Morales

Carlos Adrián Morales Higuera is a Mexican soccer player. He currently plays for Santos Laguna in the Mexican First Division...

 (Chile), Mario Salazar (El Salvador), Gregorio Selser (Argentina), Enrique Valencia (Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

) and René Zavaleta Mercado

René Zavaleta Mercado

René Zavaleta Mercado born in Oruro , died in Mexico City , was a Bolivian politician, sociologist and philosopher. Zavaleta was an extremely influential Bolivian thinker of the second half of twentieth century...

 (Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

).