WORLD COUNCIL OF HOUSES OF THE AZORES (CASAS DOS AÇORES)

The World Council of Houses of the Azores (WCHA) was created on November 13, 1997, on the island of Faial, with the “Horta Declaration” signed by its 10 founding Houses: Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro, California, Quebec, North, São Paulo, Toronto, New England, Algarve and Coimbra.
There were four founding objectives of the CMCA, which still stand today:
Firstly, “to articulate the action of the Houses of the Azores among themselves and between them and the Region”;
Secondly, “to strengthen the role of the Houses of the Azores in what are their common objectives, namely in what they represent of service to the communities, in the dignification of their name and that of the Region, as agents that disseminate and defend the values and interests of the Azores”;
Thirdly, “to promote and intensify links with official and private institutions and entities in Portugal, particularly in the Azores, and in the host countries and regions”;
Fourthly, “to issue a non-binding opinion, when requested by the Region’s governing bodies, on matters of specific interest within its scope of action.”
With these “specifications,” the CMCA was born and grew.
It grew to Winnipeg and Santa Catarina in 2001, Rio Grande do Sul in 2003, Uruguay in 2011, Bermuda in 2016, and Maranhão and Madeira in 2021.
And it will continue to grow, starting with Espírito Santo, whose Casa dos Açores, currently with observer status, will already be in a position to be formally admitted at the 2024 general assembly.
On November 13, 2022, the 25th anniversary of the CMCA was celebrated in the city of Horta with 16 Houses of the Azores.
In 2027, on the centenary of the pioneering Casa dos Açores in Lisbon, it is possible to celebrate 30 years of the CMCA with at least 20 Casas dos Açores.
In this quarter of a century of life together, the annual meeting of the Azorean family has traveled to different parts of our diaspora.
It has met six times in Canada: Montreal in 2000 and 2015, Winnipeg in 2005 and 2022, Toronto in 2008 and 2017;
It has met five times in Brazil: São Paulo in 2002, Gravataí in 2007 and 2018, Rio de Janeiro in 2011, Florianópolis in 2023;
It has met four times in mainland Portugal: Lisbon in 1999 and 2009, Porto in 2001 and 2013;
Met twice in the United States of America: Fall River in 2004, Hilmar in 2014;
It met once in Bermuda, in 2019;
And it met seven times in the Autonomous Region of the Azores: in 1997, in Faial; in 2003, in São Miguel and Terceira; in 2006, in Pico and Faial; in 2010, in Graciosa; in 2012, in São Miguel; in 2016, in Flores and Corvo; in 2021, in Santa Maria.
It returns to the Azores in 2024, under the presidency of the House of the Azores of Ontario, to hold its XXVI General Assembly on the only island not yet visited by the CMCA: the island of São Jorge, in the center of the central group of our archipelago.
The face-to-face meetings of the CMCA General Assembly, culminating in the joint work carried out annually in three other virtual sessions, strengthen the World Council, enthuse the Houses of the Azores, and enhance the Azorean diaspora.
On top of everything else, they distinguish personalities and entities from our communities and highlight Azorean products of recognized quality.
Since the second assembly in 1999, 53 people and institutions have been honored, such as Pedro da Silveira, Alexandre Linhares Furtado, Emanuel Félix, Alzira Silva, Jaime Gama, Carlos César, António Machado Pires, Carlos Carreiro, João Bosco Mota Amaral and Duarte Mendes; the Azorean Institute of Culture, the Brotherhood of the Divine Holy Spirit of Porto Alegre, the Luso-American Development Foundation, the University of the Azores or the newspapers Tribuna Portuguesa and A Voz de Portugal.
Since the third assembly in 2000, 18 “quality Azorean products” have been distinguished, such as Pico wine, São Miguel tea and pineapple, Terceira cheese, Graciosa cheese, Santa Maria cantaloupe, Azorean fish and meat, Viola da Terra, and even the Azores Tourist Destination.
In December 2023, at its meeting in Florianópolis, the CMCA decided to recognize Renda de Bilro de Santa Catarina as a quality Azorean product – an emblematic handicraft of our heritage in the south of Brazil, demonstrating that we are the Azores wherever we are.

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José Andrade is Regional Director for Communities in the Government of the Autonomous Region of the Azores
This piece is from his book Transatlântico II – Açorianidade & Interculturalidade (2024)