Prepared by the district and not verified
by Rotary Global History
The beginnings of Rotary in Central America:
In 1919 Rotary arrived in Central America and Panama to be part of District 68 which then included the Central American
countries of Panama, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador.
The first District Governor was Juan Antonio Guisado from Panama, in the year 1929.
In 1925, Juan Antonio had joined the Rotary Club of Guatemala City and in 1927 he was responsible for the incorporation
of the Rotary Clubs of San Jose, Costa Rica and San Salvador.
By the year 1929 new clubs had been formed in Tegucigalpa
(see below), the capital and largest city of Honduras, and also in Managua
(see below), the capital and largest city in Nicaragua.
It was in this year that district renumbering occurred, creating District #74 which included clubs from Central America and Belize.
In this year the District Governor was Luis Alfaro Durón from the Rotary Club of San Salvador.
In 1931 Ernesto Schaeffer became the first President of the Rotary Club of Guatemala upon its formation.
In 1933, Antonio Peña Cavaría became the first President of the new Rotary Club of San José.
In 1938, District 74 is renumbered to District 42 which comprised
the Central American countries plus Belize and Panama.
In 1940 Jorge Fidel Durón became the first District Governor from
Honduras.
In 1947 another redistricting occurred when the number 42 was
altered to 110 and the first District Governor was Francisco Reyes
from the Rotary Club of Santa Ana in El Salvador. The clubs
and countries in the new number remained the same.
In 1957 the Belize (see below) club was born and again, Rotary District number
changes occurred giving the new District 424 and its first District
Governor is Tomas Jimmy Butter from the Rotary Club of Christopher Columbus.
After 38 years of co-existence, and in the year 1995, the Central American union
is disrupted when El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and
Panama becomes District 4240 and the Belize, Guatemala and Honduras
are allocated District 4250.
During this entire period, Guatemala has provided 18 District
Governors, Honduras 14 and Belize 2. The first District Governor
from Belize was John Searle in 1999.
Notes of Interest.
Tegucigalpa was founded by Spanish settlers as "Real Villa de San Miguel de Heredia de Tegucigalpa" on
September 29 1578 on the site of an existing native settlement. Before and after independence, the city was a mining
center for silver and gold.
The capital of the independent Republic of Honduras switched back and forth between Tegucigalpa and Comayagua until it
was permanently settled here in 1880.
Managua was founded in 1819 and given the name of Leal Villa de Santiago de Managua, when its original purpose
was to serve as a rural fishing village.
Efforts to make Managua the capital of Nicaragua began in 1824, after the Central American nations became independent
from Spain.
Managua's location between the rival cities of León and Granada made it an ideal compromise site.
Once part of the Mayan and Spanish Empires, Belize was most recently a British colony, gaining its independence in 1981.
Belize has a diverse society, composed of many cultures and speaking many languages; it is the only country in Central
America where English is an official language, and both Spanish and Kriol are also widely spoken.
With 8,867 square miles (22,960km²) of territory and 301,270 people (2008 est.), the population density is the lowest
in the Central American region and one of the lowest in the world.
