Community Action on Latin America (CALA) is an independent collective of students, clergy, Latinos, and members of the Madison community that was formed on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison to inform the public about U.S. economic involvement in Latin America and to promote support for liberation movements. CALA was formed as the direct result of a national conference sponsored by the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) at Cornell University in 1971, and it was one of a number of pilot projects sponsored by the United Ministry for Higher Education to establish Latin American study centers. Activities of the group include publication of the CALA Newsletter, establishment of a speakers bureau and a Latin American film society, research on mining in Wisconsin and Latin America, and sponsorship of a number of conferences. Although all of Latin America fell within the scope of the group's interest, the international events of the early 1970s dictated that CALA's educational and research activities focus on Chile. Thus CALA was active in organizations such as the National Coordinating Center in Solidarity with Chile (NCCSC), and it was instrumental in the founding of Non-Intervention in Chile (NICH).
